Author Archives: Soccerdad

About Soccerdad

I'm a government bureaucrat with delusions of literacy.

Gideon’s babble

Why would someone who’s self described as “left of Meretz” support Netanyahu for Prime Minister of Israel? Here’s whtat the Economist’s former Israel correspondent, Gideon Lichfield writes: So if we’re talking about economic policy, he has a more ambitious and … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Juvenile Scorn, Media Bias, palestinian politics | Tagged | 3 Comments

2 more from NASA

A Tectonic Feast On Oct. 5, 2008, just after coming within about 15 miles of the surface of Enceladus, NASA’s Cassini captured this stunning mosaic as the spacecraft sped away from this geologically active moon of Saturn. Craters and cratered … Continue reading

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Oh yes they will, oh no they won’t

A sampling of headlines about the status of the truce between Israel and Hamas, from Yahoo! News. Hamas Threatens to End Truce Unless Israel Eases Restrictions Bloomberg – Wed Dec 17, 2:06 am EST Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — Hamas is … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Juvenile Scorn, Media Bias | Tagged | 1 Comment

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

Fouad Ajami expressed his regret that President Bush is leaving office. One thing is sure to go with Mr. Bush when he departs to Crawford, Texas: his “diplomacy of freedom.” That diplomacy — which propelled the wars in Afghanistan and … Continue reading

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The shoe hits the fan

The media’s been having a field day with the outpouring of contempt expressed towards President Bush across the Arab world in the wake of the shoe throwing incident the other day. Abe Greenwald noted something the other day though. It … Continue reading

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Falk – moonbattery a feature not a bug

Israel kicked Richard Falk, the “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” who is an anti-Israel crackpot who believes 9/11 conspiracy theories. McClatchy’s Dion Nissenbaum calls Falk “contentious” and his views “provocative.” … Continue reading

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Saving Palestinian advertising dollars

So Mahmoud Abbas and co. are appealing to the Israeli people directly. Along Route 2, which follows the Mediterranean coastline, motorists are seeing an unusual sight: a Palestinian flag next to an Israeli one. Below the image appearing on billboards … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, palestinian politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Safe or clean

When I first heard that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 plotters were planning to plead guilty for their crimes, I thought it was a good thing. I figured that they’d end up getting a well deserved death penalty. It … Continue reading

Posted in Terrorism | Tagged | 2 Comments

A spider in space

Drama in the Heart of the Tarantula Enormous stars in the Tarantula Nebula, one of the largest massive star-forming regions close to the Milky Way, are producing intense radiation and searing winds of multimillion-degree gas that carve out gigantic bubbles … Continue reading

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A sur-really happy anniversary

I’m not sure what’s more surreal. Is it that Palestinians in impoverished Gaza have sufficient funds to deck everything out in Hamas Green or is it that there’s a faction of Hamas that is offering Israel an extension of a … Continue reading

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The Wi-Fi Army

It’s been awhile, but I’d like to do a bit about the army. I saw this article in the National Journal about the difficulties of setting up wi-fi capabilities on the battlefield. “The kids here in the United States think … Continue reading

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The slippery slope of terrorism

Media Backspin points to a discussion of the NYT’s use of the word “terror.” Elder of Ziyon, though, finds the standard of former Israel correspondent, James Bennett The memo said he settled on a rough rule: He would use the … Continue reading

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Details, details, details

Two different perspectives. The first is from the AP, in a caption showing Israeli security guards supervising a cash transfer. It was the first time Israel has let money enter Gaza since October. It suspended the cash transfers after Gaza … Continue reading

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Brother David Ignatius explained it all for you

Two and a half years ago, nothing troubled David Ignatius more than a repeat of Iraq. In “Avoiding another ‘Slam Dunk’” he wrote: Amid all the debate about intelligence, there has been surprisingly little focus on the question the average … Continue reading

Posted in Iran, Israel | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Endeavor flies home

Atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, space shuttle Endeavour began the journey from Edwards Air Force Base on the first leg of its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center just after sunrise on Dec. 10, 2008. Image … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged | 3 Comments