(no longer) The Northernmost Jew

The store near me is having a sale on huge stuffed mooses. (Yes, I know this is incorrect, but if i said "stuffed moose" it sounds like dinner.) More than half off! I got one. My 6 other stuffed mooses can all ride him. Here are some pictures. (I am making this post because I mentioned it on my internet chat group and they wanted to see pictures, and the easiest way I can show them the pictures is to put it on this blog.)

I received a comment:

"Don't you have anything to say about Israel? At this time, just about everything else is irrelevant."

On one hand, this is correct. The situation with Israel is pretty serious at the moment, and anything I say about other topics is pretty much pointless fluff.

On the other hand, I have made it pretty obvious where I stand on Israel, and most people who have been reading my blog can pretty much guess where I stand. I can't really say much that hasn't been said by experts.

But here goes.

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Gaza:

The violence from the Palestinians in Gaza has been blamed by the media on the Israeli occupation of Gaza. However, this occupation began in 1967. Previously, the Gaza strip was part of Egypt. The PLO began in 1964. Did they call for violence against Egypt to liberate the Gaza strip? No, their goal was the destruction of Israel. (At this time the West Bank was part of Jordan.)

Israel withdrew from Gaza. The Palestinians were in charge there for the first time ever. Did they put their energy into creating a country, setting up hospitals and schools? No. They fire rockets into Israel and build a tunnel under the border to enter Israel and attack.

They attacked. Israel fought back. It is a war. When you attack a country, you can’t whine that they fought back.

Hamas’s objection is not that the Gaza strip or the West Bank was held by Israel. It is Israel’s existence. One Israel gives up the annoying habit of being there in the first place, Hamas will be happy.

For more on the subject, here is a column from Time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1209965,00.html

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Lebanon:

I was living in Jerusalem in 1982 when Israel first went into Lebanon. Hezbollah was attacking northern Israel from southern Lebanon. Israel would like the Northern part of the country to be safe, so they went in to stop Hezbollah. Israel has since withdrawn from Lebanon.

Now Hezbollah is attacking Israel again. Of course Israel is going to fight back! Duh!!!!

The world is complaining that the Israeli action is “disproportionate”. What do they want? Israel will be attacked, Israel should counter attack proportionately (whatever that means) and then Israel sits and waits to be attacked again, goes in and fights back again proportionately, and then waits for the next attack? Not acceptable!

Yes, it is too bad that Lebanon is caught in the middle. However, if you allow one group to use your country to attack a neighboring country, you kind of have to expect this.

What would the US do if Mexico was allowing a terrorist group to use their country to attack the US?

For more on the subject, here is a column: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/krauthammer1.asp

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A few other comments:

I read a column by Israeli satirist Ephraim Kishon called “So Sorry We Won” about the Six Day War. It talked about what would have happened had Israel lost that war. Israel was destroyed. The Israelis were all killed. The rest of the world began mourning the brave little country. Israel’s popularity was soaring off the charts. It ended by saying that it is too bad Israel won the war; they may never get another chance to get so popular.

After Israel went in to Lebanon in 1982, and the news reported on it, we later found out a lot of the information about the destruction there was B.S. The statistics wee supplied by the local Red Crescent, run by Arafat’s brother. Let’s see what happens this time around.

Yaasir Arafat gave very different speeches in English than he gave in Arabic. In an Arabic speech, after he had been criticized for making deals with Israel, he referred to a battle Mohammed fought. Mohammed was not strong enough to defeat this enemy. Instead, he made a peace treaty with them. Then, when their defenses were down, he went in and defeated them.

We hear a lot about the poverty of the Palestinians. Consider three facts: (a) The Palestinians are living in poverty. (b) The Palestinians have received billions of dollars in aid from many sources including the US, Israel, and Europe. (c) Arafat’s wife received an allowance of $100,000 a month and he was once listed in Forbes as one of the richest men on the planet.

Here is an article on the situation in the Middle East: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0502/mideast_facts.asp

Since I acnowledged the American version of Pi day (3/14 in MM/DD format) I will wish everyone a happy Pi day again for the European version (22/7 in DD/MM format).

Have a square pie. (Pi r squared)

I'm filling out the paperwork to teach at the University of Alaska. It includes the usual page where you check your ethnic group. This has 16 choices:

• Alaska Aleut - All
• Alaska Eskimo - Inupiaq
• Alaska Eskimo - Other / Unspec
• Alaska Eskimo - Yupik
• Alaska Indian - Athabaskan
• Alaska Indian - Haida
• Alaska Indian - Other / Unspec
• Alaska Indian - Tlingit
• Alaska Indian - Tsimshian
• Alaska Native - Other / Unspec
• Alaska Native - Southeast
• American Indian
• Asian / Pacific Islander
• Black - Non Hispanic
• Hispanic
• White - Non Hispanic

Governor Frank Murkowski is running for reelection. He has a pretty catchy jingle to a tune similar to that of "Okie from Muskogee":

..............*****....................

We don't like being threatened in Alaska
And we don't take our orders from D.C.
We don't care about some PETA boycott
And we might shoot some wolves from DC-3s.

We don't fill our freezers at Fred Meyer
It's not how real Alaskans get their meat.
We like building roads, pumping oil,
And the state of this here state is flipping sweet.

And I'm proud to be supporting Frank Murkowski
He's a man that's not afraid to take some licks.
He might not win awards for his charisma
But Alaska's gonna need Frank in '06.

..............*****....................

If you want to hear this being sung, go to http://www.frankmurkowski.com/ .

OK, it is not s good as Walter O'Brien's "The MTA Song" which he used as a campaign song in 1948 when he ran for Mayor of Boston. O'Brien lost though. If you are interested in the words and history of that song, go to http://www.mit.edu/~jdreed/t/charlie.html .

I fell in love with two schnauzers that are looking for a home. I can't take them because I don't have my own place and we have 3 schnauzers here. I really want them to have a home! Anyone want them? They are on http://www.petfinder.com/ and under "dog" and then "schnauzer" and their names are Heidi and Pepper. They are 8 years old and best friends so they want to be adopted together. They are housebroken and spayed.

I tried to get a good picture of Mt. McKinley / Denali. (This is the highest point in North America, approximately 20,320 ft above sea level. Although Mt. Everest is the highest point in the world above sea level, Mt. McKinley is actually a higher mountain, measuring from the bottom of the mountain.)

I could not get a good picture because the sun was too bright. Oh well, I'm sure you can find a good picture on the internet or in an atlas. Instead, here is a picture of tourists getting their picture taken with the mountain in the background.

I am used to going to fireworks shows for July 4th. In past years, I went to Fort Vancouver (state of Washington) for the "Biggest fireworks display west of the Mississippi". But I am in anchorage this year. we can't really have fireworks shows here - it does not get dark enough at night this time of year. They have fireworks for New Years, though.