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This makes a lot of sense, and offers a smart and productive way for the democratic party to move forward. Especially in the light of this new book by Jared Diamond: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670033375/ref=bxgy_cc_text_a/102-7641227-0420957
Right now, the democratic party is where labour was in the UK during the thatcher years - with the looney left ascendant. There are still plenty of democrats who think that the election was stolen, that the exit polls should have been used instead of a final ballot count, and that democracy in Iraq means nothing, because it was all Bush's war, and the US should not be in Iraq in the first place, Saddam was a cuddly bear etc. etc. The democratic party needs to ditch all those people, because it makes them unelectable, and get on with the hard work of setting a viable alternative to Bush. Geo-green is a very serious candidate, which I could support. But until the democracts (and the Europeans?) come up with a viable alternative, he's got my vote.
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: The Geo-Green Alternative
Inshallah, this is the future of the Middel East.
IRAQ THE MODEL
How can I describe it!? Take my eyes and look through them my friends, you have supported the day of Iraq's freedom and today, Iraqis have proven that they're not going to disappoint their country or their friends.
Is there a bigger victory than this? I believe not.
I still recall the first group of comments that came to this blog 14 months ago when many of the readers asked "The Model?"... "Model for what?" Take a look today to meet the model of courage and human desire to achieve freedom; people walking across the fire to cast their votes.
Could any model match this one!? Could any bravery match the Iraqis'!?
Let the remaining tyrants of the world learn the lesson from this day. The media is reporting only explosions and suicide attacks that killed and injured many Iraqis s far but this hasn't stopped the Iraqis from marching towards their voting stations with more determination. Iraqis have truly raced the sun.
This is right on:
Melanie Phillips's Diary: The Iraq election
The Iraq election
Salim Mansur gets the Iraq election right in the Toronto Sun. The Iraqis are displaying immense courage in pressing ahead with their election because they so desperately want to bring into being the free society that it augurs and which was denied them in all the years of tyranny under which they suffered so badly. Yet in the west, fashionable opinion is using every oportunity to rubbish the election:
'The same lib-left media, however, did not discount the legitimacy of the recently held Palestinian election in which somewhere around 30% of Palestinians did not, or could not, vote due to circumstances beyond their control. Nor would this lib-left elite suggest Canadian elections -- with similar or higher rates of voter non-participation -- are invalid. The same elite would not have confused the Quebec crisis of a generation ago, and violence in the Montreal-Quebec City corridor with all of Canada being subject to homegrown terror. And yet this is how all of Iraq is being viewed -- through the lens of insurgency located primarily within the Sunni triangle around Baghdad'.
And then Mansur puts this in its correct historical perspective:
'During the last century, communist fellow-travellers in the West found nothing right in the effort of Americans and others who supported the cause of freedom in communist-controlled societies of the East. A similar lib-left mindset, presently at work in Canada and Europe, is unwilling to go beyond its petulant anti-Americanism and see for itself how raw the struggle for freedom is, as being witnessed in Iraq. The real story of tomorrow's election is not its flaws, but rather the common courage of people to defy insurgents as they quietly work to build a decent society'.
Absolutely.
Its official! The BBC is biased. That's not news to some of us, but its good to know that people are finally paying attention.
Melanie Phillips's Diary: The Beeb in the dock
Ori Eyal did an internship at Aquamarine over the Christmas break. He is a student at the Chicago Graduate School of business and is an accomplished investor in his own right. He did a write up of Marvel Enterprises.
Ori Eyal - Marvel Enterprises Stock Analysis
Marvel Enterprises Stock Analysis
Date: 1/23/2005
Ticker: MVL
Stock price: $17.60
Market Cap: $1.85B
Enterprise Value: $1.83B (including options)
2004 P/E: 16.7
2005 P/E: 15.7
2006 P/E: 13.1
Recommendation: Strong Buy
Target price: $24 Ori Eyal
MBA – Class of 2006
The University of Chicago
Graduate School of Business
oeyal[at]chicagogsb.edu
312-363-8599
2002 (A) 2003 (A) Fy-2004 (E) 2005 (E) 2006 (E) 2007 (E) 2008 (E) 2009 (E) Note:
Main Films: Spider-man, Blade 2 X-men 2, Hulk, Daredevil Spider-man 2, Punisher, Blade 3 Fantastic 4, Elektra X-men 3, Iron Man, Punisher 2, Ghost Rider, Luke Cage, Deathlok Spider-man 3, Namor, Hulk 2, Wolverine
SALES:
Licensing - domestic $47.6 $106.2 $120.0 2004 numbers are my estimate
Licensing - international $10.2 $18.2 $25.0
Licensing - toys (TBW) $21.8 $64.8 $70.0 2004 numbers are my estimate
Total Licensing $79.6 $189.2 $215.0 $260.0 $312.0 $358.8 $394.7 $414.4
Publishing $64.4 $73.2 $85.2 $88.6 $92.2 $95.8 $99.7 $103.7 grows 4% annually
Toys $155.0 $85.2 $245.9 $51.4 $25.0 $140.0 $50.0 $50.0 Large jump after spider-man movie.
Total Sales $299.0 $347.6 $500.0 $400.0 $429.2 $594.6 $544.4 $568.1
GROSS PROFIT:
Licensing $79.6 $189.2 $215.0 $260.0 $312.0 $358.8 $394.7 $414.4
Publishing $32.2 $40.0 $44.8 $44.3 $46.1 $47.9 $49.8 $51.8
Toys $45.1 $39.0 $91.3 $18.0 $8.8 $49.0 $17.5 $17.5
Total Gross Profit $156.9 $268.1 $351.1 $322.3 $366.8 $455.7 $462.0 $483.7
OPERATING INCOME:
Licensing $69.3 $139.4 $160.9 $182.0 $228.8 $270.9 $303.2 $321.0
Publishing $19.6 $25.4 $34.5 $36.0 $37.0 $38.0 $39.0 $40.0
Toys $8.9 $21.7 $44.5 $8.0 $0.0 $25.0 $8.0 $8.0
Corporate Overhead ($17.3) ($19.4) ($21.9) ($23.0) ($24.1) ($25.3) ($26.6) ($27.9) Grows 5% annually
Operating income $80.5 $167.2 $218.0 $203.0 $241.7 $308.6 $323.6 $341.1
Interest expense ($42.0) ($18.7) ($18.3) $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 $0.0
Income Tax ($11.9) $1.3 ($71.8) ($73.1) ($87.0) ($111.1) ($116.5) ($122.8) 36%
Minority interest (2) $0.0 $0.0 ($14.3) ($3.9) ($3.9) ($14.3) ($3.9) ($3.9) Large jump after spider-man movie.
Other expense ($4.0) $1.7 ($2.6) $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 $0.0
Royalties expense $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 ($8.0) ($9.7) ($12.3) ($12.9) ($13.6) Royalties to Stan Lee
NET INCOME: (1) $22.6 $151.5 $111.0 $118.0 $141.1 $170.9 $190.3 $200.7
PV at 17% $100.9 $103.1 $106.7 $101.5 $91.6 Sum of PV = 503.8
Source: Marvel annual reports, Marvel press releases, Marvel guidance, and author’s estimates
Table Notes:
1) Net income before preferred dividends.
2) Spider-Man JV with Sony. Accounted for using the equity method until April 2004, and then started consolidating.
About Marvel
Marvel Enterprises develops, and licenses its super-hero character library which contain over 5000 characters. It’s 3 business segments are licensing, publishing, and toys. The licensing segment licenses the use of Marvels characters in films, television shows, video games, toys, advertising, and merchandising operations. The publishing segment publishes comic books and also serves as the “R&D” arm of Marvel. The toys segment manufactures and sells Spider-Man toys.
The economics of Marvels business are fantastic. Each of its 3 business segments is profitable, has very high margins, and requires little capital. Marvels CAPEX requirements are almost zero. By selling licenses for use of its characters to others, Marvel does not risk any of its own capital, gets paid substantial fees, and has its character properties developed at someone else’s expense.
Marvel has been recovering from bankruptcy in the last few years after it was grossly mismanaged in the 1990’s. Today marvel is completely debt free, has $135M of cash on its balance sheet, and is generating strong earnings and free cash flow. Since CAPEX is almost zero, Marvel will likely use its free cash flow to buy back shares (it has already started a $100M share re-purchase).
Over the past few years, Marvel has licensed characters for blockbuster film franchises including Spider-Man and X-Men. Marvels overall success depends heavily on the success of its films as these are the main drivers for all of its operations. A successful film not only provides direct revenue, but increases marvels indirect licensing, publishing, and merchandising profits. The table above shows film that have been launched and films that will be launched in the next few years. Of these, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3, Namor, and Wolverine all have “blockbuster” potential.
Marvels Growth Prospects
Marvels main business driver in the future will clearly be licensing. Some analysts have argued that Marvels future growth is limited since audiences will not “accept” more than 4-6 super-hero films every year and since competition in this segment is increasing. This argument overlooks 3 key points.
First, Marvel enjoys revenues from films over several years as the films are re-launched in CD format and as licensing and merchandising revenues continue to flow in. Every Marvel film is a multi-year revenue stream. Even if Marvel cannot increase the number of films it licenses every year, its revenue and profits will still grow as the number of revenue streams increases.
Second, Marvel has only started its international expansion. Over the last few years, revenues from international licensing were a small fraction of US licensing revenues. There is every reason to believe that Marvel’s characters are equally appealing to international audiences. At the start of 2004, Marvels licensing group began expanding its overseas businesses through newly established offices located in London and Tokyo.
Third, Marvel has not even started developing movies based on Captain America and Thor. Based on the popularity of these characters, there is a very high probability that these moves will be block busters in the future. Therefore, even if audiences temporarily tire of Spider-Man and X-men films, Marvel can fall back on its very strong “bench” of “reserve” characters.
Competition
Marvels characters “compete” with characters from DC comics and other (much smaller) comic publishing franchises. The 3 top characters in the DC comic’s franchise (superman, batman, cat-women) which is owned by AOL-Time Warner have been grossly mismanaged. Many fans consider the last few movies based on these characters to be “insultingly bad”.
In the authors opinion (which is shared by many others), Marvels characters are much more interesting than those of DC comic’s since they have a history and posses character flaws and weaknesses.
Management team
Marvel is led by Isaac Perlmutter who became CEO in October, 2004. Mr. Perlmutter, who is Marvels largest shareholder, has been actively involved in the management of the Company since acquiring its predecessor in 1990. He has served as a director of the Company since 1993, served as Chairman of the Board from 1993 to 1995, and was named Vice Chairman of the Board in 2001.
Valuation
Marvel will likely have net income of about $200M in 2009 (see model). Assuming a conservative P/E of 15 at that time, we get a market cap of $3.0B in 5 years. Since CAPEX is almost zero, I assume net income between 2005 and 2009 will be returned to shareholders through share repurchases. Plugging these numbers with the current stock price in a DCF shows an annual compounded return of 17.5% until 2009.
DCF Calculation Explanation:
Net Income in 2009 $200.7M From model above
Multiple 15 Conservative P/E multiple
M-cap in 2009 $3,011M = $200.7 X 15
Discount Rate 17% Discount rate for DCF calculation
Present value of market-cap in 2009 $1373.4M = $3011 discounted 5 years back at 17%
Present value of cash flows between 2005 and 2009 $503.8M From model above
DCF value in 2005 $1,877M = $1373.4 + $503.8
EV Calculation
Shares outstanding 106M
Stock options outstanding 10M 10M stock options outstanding at weighted average conversion price of $7.5
Stock price $17.6
Fully diluted market-cap $1967M = ((106M + 10M) * $17.6) – (10M * $7.5)
Net cash on balance sheet $135M
Enterprise value $1832M = $1967M - $135M
As can be seem from this table, an EV calculation and a DCF calculation at 17% give us approximately the same value, so investing in MVL today should yield an annualized return on 17% until 2009.
The bear case (possible risks)
There are 3 main risks for Marvel:
1) Audiences get tired of super-hero based films.
2) Marvel’s movies fail in the box-office.
3) Competition increases dramatically.
A brief response to these arguments is:
1) While it is not possible to predict audience tastes in the future, Marvel’s characters have been very compelling to date. Marvel currently has 2 “tent-pole” franchises (Spider-man and X-men) and will probably develop at least one more (Fantastic four, Namor, Captain America, Thor, or Wolverine). Marvel can launch a Tent-Pole film once every year while alternating between its 3 or 4 main franchises. This strategy will increase Marvels chance of having at least one block-buster every year while not overusing any one franchise.
2) Marvel works closely with its studio licensees to make sure that they produce quality films. Unlike other movie franchises that often rely only on special effects, Marvel makes sure that all of its movies have an interesting story line.
3) The only serious competitor in the “super-hero” segment is DC-comics. This competitor was discussed above.
Civil society appears to be emerging in Iraq. How exciting!
Friends of Democracy - Iraq Election News - Reports
Even some of the troops feel that Rumsfeld should resign. Not because he is disliked, but because he mad some significant misjudgements. This makes interesting reading.
Here's an even better bit:
Five think that military action outside of Iraq and Afghanistan is imminent. Syria was considered the most likely candidate for an introduction into the capabilities of the US military...
BLACKFIVE: Soldiers' Voices
Everyone likes Rummy. However, nine soldiers think that he should resign immediately after the elections in Iraq. The rest think June is more appropriate for Rummy to step down.
If a Commander in the field had the same kind of problems that SecDef had, he/she would have been removed. It's a responsibility issue, not a like/dislike issue. He should accept responsibility and step down. Most feel that it's not fair to have higher standards for Soldiers than for the Civilian leaders of the DOD.
If we were living in the UK, I think that I would join the British NeoConservative movement.
The Social Affairs Unit - Weblog: The Need for a British Neoconservatism
Michael Howard may think he'll pick up voters by demanding that the Prime Minster cut short his holiday to deal with a tsunami, or by declaring how many times a 20-year old Prince should apologise for a tasteless joke, but no percentage points swing the Conservative way. Nobody appears to think, "he obviously cares the most - I'll vote for Mr Howard". Shadow Ministers may think they gain voter attention from stressing how much better they would do exactly the same job as the Ministerial incumbents, but they're not in power, and there's no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt. The best that the Conservative party seems able to hope for is that the public will at some point just get weary of the same old faces, and vote in new ones: which means a Labour government until roughly 2014. Conservatism in Britain is at a bleak point - and not just because the battle is being so poorly fought. Another way must be looked for.
Neoconservatism in America grew out of the 'counter-culture' of the '60s, spear-headed by thinkers who recognised that the 'counter-culture' was not simply a variant or alternative outlook on culture, but something which actually destroyed the culture - which wanted to do away with the culture. Polls of public opinion in Britain continually show a similar conservative streak in the general public not satisfied by any of the major political parties. The neoconservative movement recognises that a free and democratic society has been knocked off course, and that only bold, major changes are going to return us to the right track.
4th Quarter 2004 Reports now available for Aquamarine Fund Inc. and Aquamarine Value Fund L.P.
Aquamarine Fund (the offshore Fund for non-US investors) was up 11.5% for the calendar year 2004. Aquamarine's year end reports are available for non-US investors at http://www.aquamarinefund.com/members/quarterly.html.
Aquamarine Value Fund L.P, (the onshore Fund for US investors) was up 15.8% for the calendar year 2004. The most recent quarterly report for Aquamarine Value Fund L.P. is available at
http://www.aquamarinefund.com/members/avalue.html.
Email amanda@aquamarinefund.com if you would like access.
Ori Eyal does an internship at Aquamarine
Ori is a student at Chicago's Graduate School of Business and has proven to be an astute buyer of Israeli and other deeply discounted equities.
His website is here: http://www.tafus.co.il/orion/home.asp
Guy taught an introductory class on accounting to major New York law firm through the Dickie Group
For more about the Dickie group see here: http://www.thedickiegroup.com/aboutus.jsp
In December, Guy traveled to Delhi for a Regional Summit of the World Economic Forum, followed by some company meetings in Mumbai.
Guy Spier with Bill O'Chee and Elizabeth Padmore at the World Economic Forum |
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Rabbi Nosson Slifkin has been accused of heresy by a group of powerful Orthodox Rabbi's for his writings on Torah and science.
Zoo Torah - Judaism and the Animal Kingdom
What I can't believe is that they actually want to excommunicate him, and prevent his books from being read. You would think that these Rabbi's have something better to do than excercise thought - control.
Former Manchester Jewish Grammar School pupil Natan Slifkin, widely known as "the Zoo Rabbi" because of his love of animals, has fallen foul of the rabbinical right-wing for believing the world is millions of years old and that the talmudic rabbis held sometimes scientifically inaccurate views.
In a statement published in the religious newspaper Yated Ne'eman, his strictly Orthodox accusers called on him to burn two of his books, "The Science of Torah" and "Mysterious Creatures," describing them as "full of heresy and apostasy."
Rabbi Slifkin, who lives in Israel, declined comment but, defending his writings in a long essay on his "zootorah" website, he called the charge of heresy, "hurtful."
His critics include powerful Orthodox figures such as Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv and Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman from Israel and Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon of America's Lakewood Yeshivah. One Israeli yeshivah head is quoted as saying that the books were "hair-raising to read... He believes that the world is millions of years old - all nonsense!"
But, on his website, Rabbi Slifkin cites 19th- and 20th-century Orthodox authorities such as Rabbis Avraham Kook and Samson Raphael Hirsch to support the compatibility of evolution with traditional Judaism.
He also quotes rabbinic precedents for believing that the talmudic sages were "mistaken in certain scientific matters" - for instance that lice bred by "spontaneous generation."
One supporter - Rabbi Rashi Simon, director of the Kesher Centre in London - commented: "It is unfortunate that a reactionary tendency has gripped so much of the Torah world in recent years. His detractors for the most part have not read his books, only a few extracts taken out of context and viewed from the narrow perspective of those who don't have any appreciation or understanding of the role of science in the world. There's a kind of McCarthyism at work.
I am so grateful for voices like Ruth Wisse's. It helps to remind me that I am not going insane.
WSJ.com - Gender Fender-Bender
Check here for some photographs of Israeli/Palestinian interactions that you won't see in the mainstream media
IDF ISRAEL | Pictures, Info and Collectibles for sale
I am looking forward to watching this video.
Brigitte Gabriel Interview
Brigitte Gabriel, a Maronite Christian from Lebanon--a righteous Gentile if there ever was one--spoke for the Freeman Center about how she survived Palestinian terrorism in Israel and how she was rescued, quite literally, by Israeli soldiers and physicians. (She prepared a special 45 minute video which I have mounted on my website. You may see it at www.phyllis-chesler.com). Sadly, she angered some people at Duke for naming the terrorists clearly and accurately.
Dore Gold on why, for now, the UN is toast.
WSJ.com - The U.N. at Work
True, the U.N. is a huge complex of many sub-organizations -- and it may be difficult to monitor everyone. But the U.N. has a duty today to clean up its act before it asks for the trust of Israel or any law-abiding member of the international community again.
These videos/dvd's are expensive, but I'm really interested to watch them.
Welcome to Emotionally Focused Therapy!
Does anyone have a copy?
Mainstream media is finally waking up to the idea that its not just the "right of Atilla the Hun" group that has a problem with the UN:
FT.com / World / International economy - UN warned it faces overhaul as crisis grows
"It was possible to see the first wave of the crisis as inspired by the US critics of the UN, but as a clearly neutral voice like Volcker starts to opine as he did in the commentary of the audit, it's a lot harder to shrug this off as a rightwing conspiracy," Mr Malloch Brown said.
At the end of this month, Mr Volcker will issue his preliminary
findings. "That may be a transition point," Mr Malloch Brown said, "where people realise thatbanging [on about] the need for management reform is not [just] responding to Republicans in shoe boxes on the beltway. It should be a mainstream preoccupation of every government shareholder of the UN."
John Podhoretz writing in the weekly standard provides an excellent, and succinct summary of how the blogosphere brought down CBS and Dan Rather. A media revolution is taking place.
Stockholders in Viacom, the parent company of CBS, may want to grill network president Leslie Moonves about fiduciary responsibility. Not because CBS has been forever tainted by the scandal, though it surely has been. Simply put, there was no reason for Moonves to spend half a million dollars of the network's money on a report that could have been written for free by an intern with a dial-up Internet connection and a decent knowledge of how to use Google effectively.
A brief recap: Just after 8 p.m. Eastern time on September 8, 2004, Dan Rather reported on 60 Minutes that CBS possessed documents written in 1972 and 1973 by George W. Bush's superior officer in the
Texas Air National Guard. The documents, procured by superstar producer Mary Mapes, indicated that young Dubya had defied a direct order from his superior-an enormously serious charge to level against a commander in chief in a time of war. CBS posted photographs of the documents on its website. Less than four hours later, at 11:59 p.m., an Atlanta lawyer named Harry MacDougald dropped a comment onto a long chain of complaints about the show on the conservative website freerepublic.com. (It doesn't cost anything to read freerepublic.com.)
MacDougald said he believed the memos were forgeries because they
appeared to be typographical anachronisms. His cursory examination of
them revealed that they were proportionally spaced-like this very line of type you're reading right now. But while proportional spacing is something that word-processing programs on personal computers do as a matter of course, conventional typewriters in use in 1972 could not do it at all. (MacDougald didn't charge anyone for his analysis.)
Two people emailed his remark to another conservative website, powerlineblog.com, which gave it wider distribution early the next morning. (Power Line is run free of charge.) A few hours after that, a jazz musician and website designer named Charles Johnson printed out one of the CBS files and retyped the text on his own computer using the default settings of Microsoft Word. When he printed out the CBS file and then his own Microsoft Word file and layered one on top of the other, Johnson discovered they were identical. Later, Johnson went to the trouble of making a little animated movie showing how the documents blended together exactly and posted it on his website, littlegreenfootballs.com. (The price Johnson charged to watch his movie: Nothing.) Johnson posted his finding on littlegreenfootballs.com at 1:24 p.m., September 9. This was nearly irrefutable evidence that a supposed 1972 memo had actually been typed on a computer using modern word-processing software. A mere 8 hours after the broadcast, CBS was (in the now immortal capitalized word of the network's own chief PR flack Gil Schwartz) "TOAST."
This comes from Getty Images.
Getty Images Editorial - Detail View
Is it surprising that Palestinian children are getting killed? What
responsible military force would allow children to get so close to
military installations?
Or, how about this one:
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=51997452&cdi=0
I rate it as extremely unlikely that Palestinian children were not operating the mortar that got them killed.
See here:
http://www.aquamarinefund.net/archives/2005/01/new_york_times.html
Prince Harry is now set to meet the British Chief Rabbi over his wearing a Nazi Uniform. As far as Prince Harry is concerned, he's just a young kid who does not think very far. As
far as British society is concerned, there is something amiss where a
whole bunch of people from the "ruling class" can be at a party - even if it is a fancy dress party - and not be sensitive to the fact that Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, and a very public figure, is parading around in a Nazi uniform.
The focus should not be on Prince Harry as much as on why a whole class of people seem to be oblivious to recent history.
From: Paul
Posted At: Saturday, January 15, 2005 7:01 PM
Posted To: Bloghead
Conversation: When Harry met Sacks
Subject: When Harry met Sacks
html According to today's 'Times',
Prince Harry is to meet Chief Rabbi Sacks, as a "Day of Atonement'
(their headline). Anyone who has ever read any 'insider' accounts of
life in the innermost sancta of the Royal family - especially the
treatment of those who are perceived to have overstepped the mark
(Diana and Fergie come to mind) -- will know the icy blasts that have
presumably already been sent in young Harry's direction. He is unlikely
to be attending any fancy-dress parties for some time. I am sure that
Rabbi Sacks will be kind and gentle with the young man (he might
delegate the task to his very charming Rebbetzin.)
I remain very uncomfortable at how this has become a "Jewish" issue.
Blackfive believes that the Western press is so one - sided and unbalanced in its reporting in Iraq, that it borders in the criminal.
BLACKFIVE: Aiding and Abetting the Enemy
Just yesterday, a major news agency's website lead read: "Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad" and "Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes." True, yes. Comprehensive, no. Did the author of this article bother to mention that Coalition troops killed 50 or so terrorists while incurring those seven losses? Of course not. Nor was there any mention about the substantial progress these offensive operations continue to achieve in defeating the insurgents. Unfortunately, this sort of incomplete reporting has become the norm for the media, whose poor job of presenting a complete picture of what is going on in Iraq borders on being criminal.
In the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Authority delivers justice down the end of a barrel. No due process, or presumption of innocence. You would hope that Abu Mazen would change that. He has not done so far.
Two young Palestinian men suspected of "collaboration" with Israel were murdered in the Nablus area over the weekend.
The first murder took place on Friday in a public square in Balata refugee camp, south of Nablus.
Eyewitnesses said Mahmoud Mansour, 23, was brought to the center of the camp by gunmen from Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, and shot to death in the presence of dozens of residents after noon prayers.
- Gruesome
Good friend Diana Wais recently become a faculty member of a branch of psychotherapy called AEDP - which stands for, "Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy"
This family of therapies - which includes EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is very very different from traditional analytical approaches (Freud and Jung.)
In addition to being a powerful form of psychotherapy, it makes fascinating reading for those who are interested in attachment theory. Although this link is to a site entitled "trauma resources", it has a wealth of resources for anyone.
Here is the link to the site:
trauma resources - psychological / emotional trauma redefined
Here is what the introduction to the site says:
This is a professionally reviewed, non-commercial website for parents, teaching and health professionals and those who suffer from the effects of extreme stress. The intense and unrelenting stress that we focus on is known as emotional trauma.
Our purpose is to help you recognize that psychological/emotional trauma is:
- a very common experience for both children and adults.
- a reaction to environmental experience that results in disruptions in the brain.
- characterized by ongoing emotional, health and learning problems.
- healed through interventions that calm and correct neurological focus and function.
This definition is based on a broad spectrum of brain research and technology and is broader, though inclusive, of trauma defined by PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.)
We began as community sponsored conferences that focused on leading edge discoveries in the field of child development, brain research and psychological trauma. We titled our conferences "From Neurons to Neighborhoods" and continue as a community based collaborative that includes parents, teachers, and health care providers. We are professionals and nonprofessionals dedicated to changing public policy by recognizing the role parents play in regulating their children's lives. Our emphasis is on prevention of early life trauma, neurological regulation and regenerative healing for individuals who are traumatized.
This site offers information and hope to parents, teachers, mental health providers and those who suffer from traumatic stress.
Lou Marinoff is regularly on the faculty of the World Economic Forum. I met him in New Delhi, and spent a day with him at the Taj Mahal. In addition to being the author of, "Plato, not Prosac", he has founded the American Practical Philosophy Association: Masthead
I have joined.
You can learn more about Lou here: http://www.loumarinoff.com
Family loses 7 boys because they were firing mortars into Israel. In another example of New York Times bias, the story buries the reasons why they died, and fails to talk about the real tragedy.
The Israeli army targets, with one tank shell, a group who are launching mortars from a field in Gaza into Israel. Seven boys from one family died. This is tragic. What is even more tragic is that these boys were allowed to be anywhere near the mortar installation.
This write up by Steven Erlanger of the New York Times focuses much detail on the family's anguish, but fails to ask why the boys were launching mortars in the first place, who allowed them to get close to the equipment, and what sort of society it is that allows children to launch mortars against another nation.
How reliable the New York Times is when it comes to biasing a story about Israel.
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Remapping the Middle East, Maybe
Tom Friedman of the New York Times engages in yet another round of Israel bashing by comparing the rightwing settler movement to terrorists. (Tom Friedman does not use the work terrorist, feeling much more comfortable with the "militant" code-word.)
The Israeli settlers are not trying to subvert, or prevent democracy. They do seek to excercise their democratic right to civil disobedience.
It seems that Friedman is applying a double standard: If the civil disobedience comes from the left, then that's all right. If civil disobedience comes from the right, they are messianic zealots who can only be compared to terrorists who are only deserving of being compared to terrorists.
Tom, I don't buy it.
Dore Gold: Why Syria thinks it can get away with backing the insurgency in Iraq
Syria actively supports a number of terrorist organizations, including Hizbullah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the insurgency on in Iraq. On top of that, they continue to occupy Lebanon. Dore Gold reminds us that, in spite of all this, they continue to occupy a seat on the security council of the United Nations.
What kind of crazy world are we living in if Syria can be a rogue nation, but hold its seat on the security council with impunity?
This fact alone is all the evidence we need that the United Nations 100% morally bankrupt.
Whitney emails stuff to me on a regular basis. This was a list of jokes about France. In the intro he writes: It
really annoys me that the French were right about Iraq -- we now know
that Saddam DIDN'T have WMDs, that it WOULD turn into a brutal mess,
and that (while I hope I'm wrong about this) we would have been FAR
better off with a policy of containment. But I still think they behaved
abominably and love reading stuff like this... Here is what I wrote back...
The case for going into Iraq was not whether the USA would find stockpiles of WMD. The case was that Iraq was working on, and developing its WMD capabilities. Many of their WMD capabilities and stocks were unaccounted for. And they were not cooperating with the UN inspectors. All of this represented an unacceptable threat. Consider that Iraq had, once before, destroyed its stocks of WMD, but retained the capabilities and the knowledge. At the time that the US went into Iraq, the Kay report confirms that Iraq was working on long range ballistic missiles and retained chemical and biological capabilities. To
now say that it was all about finding WMD is moving the goal posts and
is also historical revisionism of the worst kind, and you, along with
many in the liberal establishment have bought into it lock, stock and
barrel. Remember that at the time the US went in, France and company were promising all sorts of doom and gloom: Americans coming back in body bags in the 10s of thousands. A quagmire in which the US was unable to take the major cities without street to street fighting. Instability in the rest of the Arab world etc. etc. The fact is that the whole world was astounded at how quickly the US took Iraq, and how few casualties there were in taking the country, and how quickly pre-war levels of oil production, electricity production & other measures of civilian well-being were restored, and then exceeded. Do you ever ask yourself whey there now very few reports on power outages, or oil production in Iraq? Well, let me suggest that, with the progress being made, the liberal media can't gloat anymore, so its no fun, and therefore not newsworthy for them. Consider how far we've come, and the achievements. Here are a few: Iraqi's no longer dying in the 10's of thousands per year at the hands of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. Libya gives up opposition to the west, gives up WMD and gives valuable information on other countries WMD programs. Palestinian elections: The Wall Street Journal considers these only the second set of free elections ever held in the Arab world. Semi autonomy for the Kurdish north - who run their affairs reasonably well. Emergence of moderate Shiite leadership in Iraq (Sistani), who clearly wants to steer a line that is independent of Iran Co-option, even of the more radicalized Shiites of Iraq (Al Sadr) into the political system. The Sunni triangle is a problem. But whenever you try anything important, its going to look like a mess half way through. The elections at the end of the month are going to be imperfect, but I believe that they will have a profound impact on the Middle East. Changes
are happening, but the liberal media are whining all the way, and are
moving the goal posts - because they just can't bear to think of the
idea that people that they hate so much are actually making progress. All those liberal whiners - instead of focusing on progress and what's good. Its so un-American! G
Melanie Phillips's Articles: The Reporting of Iraq and Israel: An Abuse of Media Power
This is an excellent article on media bias in the UK. It also goes part of the way towards explaining why.
CE Army Fantasy Camp FAQS
If you like paintball, you'll really like this. Its even closer to the real thing.
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