Thursday, August 24, 2006
Thoughts for Thursday, Not All Necessarily Mine
First up, the obligatory thought about Hizballah, without which this just wouldn't be an AbbaGav post -- unless a substitute mention of Hamas would suffice instead.
Did you read about Hizballah's latest terrorist-endearment tactic?
It has to be something like that because certainly a humanitarian ambulance and kindergarten service like Hizballah would never do something like massively counterfeiting US currency and then passing off the bogus bills on needy villagers, would they?
Actually, check out Sticky Notes on the subject (and a second time too). It seems quite possible. And Sticky, a new and very prolific blogger, could use your help, if you have any ideas of how to verify this possibility. Remember, if you can help, you wouldn't just be sticking it to a terrorist organization -- you'd also be saving lots of needy villagers from trying to rebuild their homes with monopoly money when if they would just sit tight a little while the Euros would be arriving before the French troops do.
In other thoughts this fine evening, I've got a few links from blogs you might not have seen before. Why not try something new before the weekend?
New blogger -- or perhaps renewed blogger, if you count that one post from three years ago -- Rav Yehoshua Kahan sees the hidden truth behind one of those dreaded 11pm phone calls from the doctor. Keep an eye on his blog; it's really good.
Another renewed blogger is Akiva Micah from Minor Fast Days. The cause of his need for blogging renewal was the loss of his old blog a month or so ago due to the dreaded HR Department's Blog-phobia. Stop by and welcome him back, and give him a little support too as the birth of his first child is fast approaching -- no, no silly, his wife will be doing the actual birthing, not that he hasn't given the idea some thought, from a safe distance.
One last relatively new blogger is Lady-Light from Tikkun Olam (not to be confused with Tikun Olam, whose world view appears to be diametrically opposed in many ways). Lady-Light has been blogging for a few months and has quite a few interesting posts on issues large and small. She has poured her heart into standing up for Israel in the recent conflict with Hizballah, but also has some posts of a more general nature, including some pretty cool doodlings by her daughter.
If you run across some interesting new blogs, consider taking a few minutes to point them out to the rest of us. I can still remember those first few months of blogging and how hard it was just to get to the mountain before even beginning this long climb. Our ability to help each other out is one of the nicest things about the link-driven world of blogging, so take advantage of it.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
Did you read about Hizballah's latest terrorist-endearment tactic?
That's a little curious, don't you think? Sure, hearts and minds, that part I understand. No, what puzzles me is how Hizballah -- an organization that depends on a foreign country for its weapons and that is presently being feted by much of the world's press for having fought off the great Goliath of Israel with little more than faith and pea-shooters -- is coming up with all this money. In cash. And it's not just any cash:
Hezbollah has been handing out cash payments of up to $12,000 to people whose homes and business were destroyed by Israeli bombing during the 34-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that ended with a cease-fire on August 14.
Wow. Crisp new hundred dollar bills. Piles of them. I suppose it's possible the donation plate at Friday services was collecting a lot of big American bills fresh from the few ATMs that Israel hadn't already callously destroyed. Or maybe Hizballah has received some mail-order bill-crispeners from the geniuses at Khomeini Labs, and of course happened to have piles of old, un-crisp bills lying around just waiting for a little touching up before distribution.
At a school in south Beirut's Bourj el-Barajneh neighborhood, Hezbollah on Friday started handing out crisp one hundred dollar bills to residents who lost their homes in the Israeli bombing campaign _ US$12,000 to each claimant.
It has to be something like that because certainly a humanitarian ambulance and kindergarten service like Hizballah would never do something like massively counterfeiting US currency and then passing off the bogus bills on needy villagers, would they?
Actually, check out Sticky Notes on the subject (and a second time too). It seems quite possible. And Sticky, a new and very prolific blogger, could use your help, if you have any ideas of how to verify this possibility. Remember, if you can help, you wouldn't just be sticking it to a terrorist organization -- you'd also be saving lots of needy villagers from trying to rebuild their homes with monopoly money when if they would just sit tight a little while the Euros would be arriving before the French troops do.
In other thoughts this fine evening, I've got a few links from blogs you might not have seen before. Why not try something new before the weekend?
New blogger -- or perhaps renewed blogger, if you count that one post from three years ago -- Rav Yehoshua Kahan sees the hidden truth behind one of those dreaded 11pm phone calls from the doctor. Keep an eye on his blog; it's really good.
Another renewed blogger is Akiva Micah from Minor Fast Days. The cause of his need for blogging renewal was the loss of his old blog a month or so ago due to the dreaded HR Department's Blog-phobia. Stop by and welcome him back, and give him a little support too as the birth of his first child is fast approaching -- no, no silly, his wife will be doing the actual birthing, not that he hasn't given the idea some thought, from a safe distance.
One last relatively new blogger is Lady-Light from Tikkun Olam (not to be confused with Tikun Olam, whose world view appears to be diametrically opposed in many ways). Lady-Light has been blogging for a few months and has quite a few interesting posts on issues large and small. She has poured her heart into standing up for Israel in the recent conflict with Hizballah, but also has some posts of a more general nature, including some pretty cool doodlings by her daughter.
If you run across some interesting new blogs, consider taking a few minutes to point them out to the rest of us. I can still remember those first few months of blogging and how hard it was just to get to the mountain before even beginning this long climb. Our ability to help each other out is one of the nicest things about the link-driven world of blogging, so take advantage of it.
