Another blogger who is also part of the Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers collective mentioned the Berkeley Daily Planet.
THE BERKELEY DAILY PLANET
Published on a weekly basis.
Distributed FREE
Worth every penny of it
The Berkeley Daily Planet is probably one of the worst excuses for journalism ever, run by a woman who imagines herself a writer of stature. Though that presumption is based on the flimsiest of pretexts. Lets face it, Becky O'Malley is a shoddy editor, a lousy editorialist, and pretentious in either role.
She is, in many ways, a typical Berkeleyite. Revolutionarily ignorant. Vainly so.
I used to read the Berkeley Daily Planet fairly regularly. Nowadays I read it at best sporadically, and only when I want to get my dander up.
Signable letter of outrage at the Berkeley Daily Planet's anti-Israel bias here:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/fight-anti-semitic-rhetoric-at-the-berkeley-daily-planet/signatures.html
Daily Planet Watchdog, which critiques the BDP here:
http://dpwatchdog.com/
Blog posting that excerpts the most egregious crap from the BDP here:
http://deathbynoodles.blogspot.com/2009/07/daily-planet-watchdog-and-bitter-bitch.html
And a posting about the BDP here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/08/berkeley-daily-planet-hatreds-own.html
Given that the Berkeley Daily Planet is little more than an advertising freebie, and thus publishes what the advertisers will approve of, you can no doubt figure out what point of view rules in Berkeley. It is a tragedy that a place once known for intelligent discourse, innovation, and the free-speech movement, is now a pretentious middle-class burb, with little to boast of other than being in the forefront of comfortable arm-chair extremism.
The Berkeley Daily Planet perfectly evokes the stodginess and mental cowardice that has overtaken the left.
They are liberal only in their self-righteousness. Not in their intellectual processes.
------------------------------------------------------
This is not germane to this issue, but it really highlights what Becky O'Malley is all about:
Berkeley Daily Planet Reporter Quits Over Paper’s "Lack of Journalistic Integrity"
By Will Harper
Wednesday, Sep. 24 2008 @ 10:54AM
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2008/09/berkeley_daily_planet_reporter.php
Quote: Berkeley Daily Planet reporter Judith Scherr abruptly resigned from the paper last week after a dispute with editor and owner, Becky O’Malley, over journalistic ethics.
“After 2.5 years of being insulted, berated and lied to by the Daily Planet’s executive editor – and having my stories distorted by the deletion of quotes from persons Becky O’Malley hates and the addition of her nasty remarks about such people – I have left the Planet,” Scherr said in an email she sent to friends last Thursday.
----------------------CUT----------------------
“I could no longer be part of a newspaper with such a lack of journalistic integrity.”
End quote.
I never would've presumed journalistic integrity in the first place.
It is Berkeley, after all.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
British media bias
One of the key facts left out of most British news articles about the Palestinian families evicted from the houses in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood is that they were very much arrears on their rent.
Like many countries, the rights of renters are safeguarded to a large extent in Israel - as long as they maintained payment of rent, eviction would not have happened. Twenty eight families continue to pay rent - the Ghawi and Hanun families, however, didn't do so.
This seems like a germane detail.
Not to the British press.
The legal battle to reclaim the property, which had been seized by the Jordanian government, took years. This, too, seems a pertinent detail.
Not to the British press.
The Guardian described the evictions as "the ugly face of ethnic cleansing".
The Guardian, of course, represents the worst of le journaille-jaune Anglaise.
I suspect that if the Guardian were to write about the American revolution today, they would paint the rebels as fascists and criminals repressing the legitimate rights of upstanding British citizens, and the redcoats as pure unsullied gentlemen fighting against the forces of barbarism and chaos.
Oh wait. That is precisely how the Brits describe the American revolution. Never mind.
Like many countries, the rights of renters are safeguarded to a large extent in Israel - as long as they maintained payment of rent, eviction would not have happened. Twenty eight families continue to pay rent - the Ghawi and Hanun families, however, didn't do so.
This seems like a germane detail.
Not to the British press.
The legal battle to reclaim the property, which had been seized by the Jordanian government, took years. This, too, seems a pertinent detail.
Not to the British press.
The Guardian described the evictions as "the ugly face of ethnic cleansing".
The Guardian, of course, represents the worst of le journaille-jaune Anglaise.
I suspect that if the Guardian were to write about the American revolution today, they would paint the rebels as fascists and criminals repressing the legitimate rights of upstanding British citizens, and the redcoats as pure unsullied gentlemen fighting against the forces of barbarism and chaos.
Oh wait. That is precisely how the Brits describe the American revolution. Never mind.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Palestinians want war
The Palestinians have decided to push the envelope. And, given the envelope they have chosen to push, they have upped the ante, and guaranteed no peace in our time. All of this seemingly with the blessing of the quartet.
"Fatah's sixth General Assembly on Saturday approved a resolution saying Jerusalem is an "integral part of the Palestinian homeland and political entity""
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418552346&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
"The new resolution says that Fatah considers Jerusalem a "red line" that no one could cross. It defines Jerusalem as the "eternal capital of Palestine, the Arab world and the Islamic and Christian worlds." "
Also in Ha'aretz.
See here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1106050.html
"the Fatah general conference, which convened in Bethlehem for a three-day gathering, adopted a position paper which also states that the Palestinian national enterprise will not reach fruition until all of Jerusalem, including the outlying villages, come under Palestinian sovereignty. "
--------CUT---------
"the paper does not make a distinction between the eastern and western halves of the capital"
All of Jerusalem. Not only the parts that Jordan ethnically cleansed of Jews in 1948, not only the neighborhoods that they stole from the rightful owners during the two decades of Arab misrule, but all of it. They demand all of it BEFORE there will be a continuation of negotiations.
This represents the moderate side of Palestinian leadership? This is what Mahmud Abbas holds as a precondition for talks?
This is not moderate - it requires that the Jewish people to commit national suicide. If any American politician still supports the Palestinians, they prove themselves no friend of Israel.
Giving up Jerusalem in favor of the unwarranted and a-historic Palestinian claim cannot be done, will not happen.
Perhaps it is time for Israel to take out all of the Palestinian leadership. Wipe them out. Shoot the old guard. And let the young guys take over, with the example of the corpses of Mahmud Abbas and his henchmen, all of whom have Jewish blood on their hands, as a warning.
If Fatah does not accept that Jerusalem is Jewish, and that Arabs have no claim to the city, then they choose war. Given the cowardly and ineffective way that Arabs wage war, they will loose.
At which point, the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians may find themselves disappearing from the pages of history.
"Fatah's sixth General Assembly on Saturday approved a resolution saying Jerusalem is an "integral part of the Palestinian homeland and political entity""
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418552346&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
"The new resolution says that Fatah considers Jerusalem a "red line" that no one could cross. It defines Jerusalem as the "eternal capital of Palestine, the Arab world and the Islamic and Christian worlds." "
Also in Ha'aretz.
See here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1106050.html
"the Fatah general conference, which convened in Bethlehem for a three-day gathering, adopted a position paper which also states that the Palestinian national enterprise will not reach fruition until all of Jerusalem, including the outlying villages, come under Palestinian sovereignty. "
--------CUT---------
"the paper does not make a distinction between the eastern and western halves of the capital"
All of Jerusalem. Not only the parts that Jordan ethnically cleansed of Jews in 1948, not only the neighborhoods that they stole from the rightful owners during the two decades of Arab misrule, but all of it. They demand all of it BEFORE there will be a continuation of negotiations.
This represents the moderate side of Palestinian leadership? This is what Mahmud Abbas holds as a precondition for talks?
This is not moderate - it requires that the Jewish people to commit national suicide. If any American politician still supports the Palestinians, they prove themselves no friend of Israel.
Giving up Jerusalem in favor of the unwarranted and a-historic Palestinian claim cannot be done, will not happen.
Perhaps it is time for Israel to take out all of the Palestinian leadership. Wipe them out. Shoot the old guard. And let the young guys take over, with the example of the corpses of Mahmud Abbas and his henchmen, all of whom have Jewish blood on their hands, as a warning.
If Fatah does not accept that Jerusalem is Jewish, and that Arabs have no claim to the city, then they choose war. Given the cowardly and ineffective way that Arabs wage war, they will loose.
At which point, the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians may find themselves disappearing from the pages of history.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Sheikh Jarra? - No, Shimon HaTzaddik!
Last week the Israeli government evicted several dozen Arab squatters from houses in East Jerusalem that had been purchased by and for Jews over a century ago. The Arabs had been plonked there by the Jordanian interim authority before all of Jerusalem reverted to Israeli control.
Sad for the Arabs - they had lived there for half a century. But some compensation money changed hands, and the court-case took ten years.
Here in San Francisco an eviction takes far less time than that. And we LIKE tenants here.
But now note: NOT ALL OF THE EVICTED SQUATTERS WERE ARAB - many of them, if not most, were Western European Anarchists. Swedish activists had turned the buildings into fortresses. It is both a testament to the professionalism of the Israeli police, and the essential cowardice of pampered Swedish provocateurs, that nobody was injured during the eviction. Things are not so smooth in the cities of Western Europe when radical thugs and criminals need to be thrown out of buildings they have occupied.
Nearly every month there are news reports of squatters' collectives fighting pitched battles with the cops in Europe. Often the riot police or swat are involved.
It took FORTY TWO YEARS to return these buildings in the Sheikh Jarra / Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood to their legal owners. No broken heads.
And yet...... Europe is critical; they should talk - their treatment of Arabs is far worse than anything Israel has done to her Arab population, and their treatment of all minorities makes what goes on in the 'occupied' territories look like candy.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is critical; who is she pandering to?
And the Arab world is critical; Jews could invent a cure for cancer, and Arabs would claim that it was poison, a Zionist plot, and stolen from the Arabs in the first place.
What can we learn from this?
Primarily that we should ignore the world. OR beat the crap out of Swedish leftwingers. Your choice ..... (but I definitely want the latter part of the program).
Sad for the Arabs - they had lived there for half a century. But some compensation money changed hands, and the court-case took ten years.
Here in San Francisco an eviction takes far less time than that. And we LIKE tenants here.
But now note: NOT ALL OF THE EVICTED SQUATTERS WERE ARAB - many of them, if not most, were Western European Anarchists. Swedish activists had turned the buildings into fortresses. It is both a testament to the professionalism of the Israeli police, and the essential cowardice of pampered Swedish provocateurs, that nobody was injured during the eviction. Things are not so smooth in the cities of Western Europe when radical thugs and criminals need to be thrown out of buildings they have occupied.
Nearly every month there are news reports of squatters' collectives fighting pitched battles with the cops in Europe. Often the riot police or swat are involved.
It took FORTY TWO YEARS to return these buildings in the Sheikh Jarra / Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood to their legal owners. No broken heads.
And yet...... Europe is critical; they should talk - their treatment of Arabs is far worse than anything Israel has done to her Arab population, and their treatment of all minorities makes what goes on in the 'occupied' territories look like candy.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is critical; who is she pandering to?
And the Arab world is critical; Jews could invent a cure for cancer, and Arabs would claim that it was poison, a Zionist plot, and stolen from the Arabs in the first place.
What can we learn from this?
Primarily that we should ignore the world. OR beat the crap out of Swedish leftwingers. Your choice ..... (but I definitely want the latter part of the program).
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Israeli government morons
This was stupid:
"Israel's consul-general in Boston sent a blunt and extremely critical letter of Israel's policies toward the US to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Channel 10 reported Thursday, saying that Israel's policies were causing damage to strategic ties with the US.
In the three-page letter, entitled "Sad passing thoughts on Israeli-US relations," Nadav Tamir wrote that the perception of a conflict between Israel and the Obama Administration was harming American public support for Israel, and causing it more damage than the Second Lebanon War or Operation Cast Lead. "
THE JERUSALEM POST
http://www.jpost.com
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418544513&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
"The Israeli consul went on to say that narrow political considerations were contributing to the deterioration of the ties. "There are people in the US and Israeli politics who ideologically oppose [US President Barack] Obama, and are willing to sacrifice the special relationship between the two countries in order to advance their political agenda."
He also took the government to task for making differences with the US public, while Washington was trying to downplay them. "There have always been differences in the stances of the two countries, but the governments were careful to make sure they were coordinated," he reportedly wrote. "
----------CUT-------------------
"confrontation between the Israeli government and the Obama administration puts the American-Jewish community, which is so important to us, in a difficult position," he wrote. "Many of them are distancing themselves from the state of Israel because of this conflict." "
----------CUT-------------------
And of course, where was the published? In Israel. Who leaked the letter? Someone in Israel.
There are morons in high places in Israel.
"Israel's consul-general in Boston sent a blunt and extremely critical letter of Israel's policies toward the US to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Channel 10 reported Thursday, saying that Israel's policies were causing damage to strategic ties with the US.
In the three-page letter, entitled "Sad passing thoughts on Israeli-US relations," Nadav Tamir wrote that the perception of a conflict between Israel and the Obama Administration was harming American public support for Israel, and causing it more damage than the Second Lebanon War or Operation Cast Lead. "
THE JERUSALEM POST
http://www.jpost.com
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418544513&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
"The Israeli consul went on to say that narrow political considerations were contributing to the deterioration of the ties. "There are people in the US and Israeli politics who ideologically oppose [US President Barack] Obama, and are willing to sacrifice the special relationship between the two countries in order to advance their political agenda."
He also took the government to task for making differences with the US public, while Washington was trying to downplay them. "There have always been differences in the stances of the two countries, but the governments were careful to make sure they were coordinated," he reportedly wrote. "
----------CUT-------------------
"confrontation between the Israeli government and the Obama administration puts the American-Jewish community, which is so important to us, in a difficult position," he wrote. "Many of them are distancing themselves from the state of Israel because of this conflict." "
----------CUT-------------------
And of course, where was the published? In Israel. Who leaked the letter? Someone in Israel.
There are morons in high places in Israel.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Does it smell familiar?
It's been five years, but I can still smell his tobacco in my dreams. He never was the most considerate of men.
I'm still eating off the plates we bought together, and I still add extra paprika to his favorite dishes, like his odious mother insisted I do. These are the things that I am far too accustomed to, and will not change.
His shirts are still in the closet; I wash them every few months. His kippot are on the shelf next to the smaller tallis. The larger one, well, you know. Occasionally one of the members of his shul calls, especially around rosh hashana. I've had more contact with them since then than while he was still around.
His friend Aaron called this morning. I can't remember Aaron's face. But his voice comforts me. Sort of. He mentioned the smell of the pipe. That's why.
I'm still eating off the plates we bought together, and I still add extra paprika to his favorite dishes, like his odious mother insisted I do. These are the things that I am far too accustomed to, and will not change.
His shirts are still in the closet; I wash them every few months. His kippot are on the shelf next to the smaller tallis. The larger one, well, you know. Occasionally one of the members of his shul calls, especially around rosh hashana. I've had more contact with them since then than while he was still around.
His friend Aaron called this morning. I can't remember Aaron's face. But his voice comforts me. Sort of. He mentioned the smell of the pipe. That's why.
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