Yackety Yak Israel - Buzz from big white city

Dear Tzipi - Sam's letter to possible winner...

Dear Tzipi:

      Don't let 'em get ya. Those male chauvinist pi**s lead by the big pi** Mofaz just don't want to accept the fact of your victory to head the party. To be a good politician and leader one must learn how to loose with honor and be a team player once the fight is over. Mofaz gets an "F" on both counts.

      This bitter man is out to destroy you, maybe he is out just for his own glory, but either way you better watch out. You must watch him carefully and expose this Brutus for what he is. Mofaz will stab you just like Brutus stabbed Ceasar - the most infamous killing in political history. So keep your back away from his stiletto. As the godfather would say: "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". If there is a way to move him aside in Kadimah do it quietly, with style, no need to make a scene. Show him and the rest of the men that you are tougher and more honest than him. He may be working behind your back with Shas making all kind of promises for financial return if they bring to him a few precious votes. Are back room deals going to be good for our economy?

      Mofaz will not take his loss easily. Kadima simply rejected his view of politics as usual spend more on defence - absolutely no limits on spending. Now that the general elections are coming, you need to focus on the big issues, politics aside there is the economy, Syria, the Palestinians... lots to do and little time for roman senate type of politics - with or without the stilettos.

Sam-D-man in Tel Aviv

What can we learn from Obama [emancipation replay?]

Obama's "change" book... is it going to work? or be enough?
So the election campaign is going full force in the US. Barack Obama is one of the most articulate and relevant candidates in a long time. His "change we can believe in" campaign has ignited the imagination and stirred the spirits of Americans like never before. But you ask: "what does this have to do with Israel? or Tel Aviv?" ~ well, I think P L E N T Y ! If we think in terms of time and history, Barack Obama is the heir of a long chain of black reformers going back to the American slave era. Some do not like to bring up this dark period in American history, but bear with me and keep on reading. I would like to equate the dark time in American history to what the Palestinians seem to be having now. Mostly because of politics and somewhat because of personal ideology the Palestinians seem to feel like the whole world is against them and that the Israelis are heading the lynch mob. Well, what do you think it was like for the blacks of south before the American Civil War? I don't think that the Palestinians can hold a candle to them. As I follow the history from Abraham Lincoln, Fredirick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr. -- fast forward to Barack Obama, you see how the treatment of blacks has gone through ups and downs and seemed to be a series of endless disapointments. Does this sound like the story for Gazans??? Of course it does. But everyone wants the Palestinians to have the same status, opportunity, and lifestyle of the afluent blacks in the good ole' US of A. Of course we all want this, but we seem not to want to go through the "process" or the "change". You may remember that the blacks in the US had the Black Panthers? To most white Americans this was downright terrorism perpretrated by a minority group that seem not to take reponsibility for their own state of affairs.
The point I am making is that change can come. Sometimes slowly and sometimes dramatically. Barack Obama's position and personality as a change vehical is credible only because he does follow a long line of black change ideologist. His ideas and words are an echo of Lincooln's and King's ideas, but this time he is pitting one group against another on an economic and political scale, not on race or religion. He does clearly state that things can not go as they have been going up to now. There are plenty of "signs" that he has a point. I guess he is trying to say, just like the people in Israel and in most of the Middle East: "the era of wars and political terrorism is over". It's hard to say this while the World Trade Center towers in New York are still "a hole in the ground" and the headstones in Israeli grave yards are still white and fresh. It's hard to tell the Iraqis that a dictator is gone and they need to figure out how to live differently. It's hard to tell Iranians that Israel is not going to volley a nuclear bomb at them as they have expected for a long time, probably just because they are fundamentally Muslim. All these ideas can't be changed in a month or a year or even a decade. So I hope to see the Palestinian King or Obama some time in the next 20 years. If you want it faster go get him -/- she is probably living in Gaza or Lebanon and is doing her wash just about now. Or maybe she is on the beach in Quatar (OK I had to get that one in).

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For these Americans who bristle at my use of "black" to describe the now popularly accepted "African American" please don't write any comments, they are not going to tell me anything I don't know. Blacks has been used in American English for a long time, before that the term "Negro" was used from the Spanish and Portugese. The sad thing about a loss of historical perspective is how quickly people forget that things actually "got better". I like to point out that life has "changed" for many, not just the "African Americans". Without the people who change them, who said the very short phrases [of the people, by the people, for the people / I have a dream] that encapsulated a big idea into a moto, probably the change would have taken much longer. So read, don't judge (me) and think for yourself. (if you got a good article, write to me :-)

A state for all people - not just religious ones

Sixsty years ago Israel became a sovereign state for the Jewish people. Today the ultra orthodox (black hats) are trying to change our state to suit their religious community. They use boycotts, coercion, and violence to intimidate more secular Jews. Prospective Jewish converts are also pressured to follow strict Taliban like practices which originated as far back as the 16th century in Eastern Europe. While this sounds a little strange, specially in a modern democratic state, until now the liberal seculars and the conservative orthodox did not intrude on each other's daily lives.

The ultra orthodox are only satisfied when they can dictate to all of us secular Jews what we may eat, how we must dress, our relationships with the opposite sex, where we may shop for cloths or food, where we can go on vacation, and what music we may listen to (movies and television viewing is strictly forbidden). Men and women are forbidden to go to the beach together. Orthodox hate seculars in Tel Aviv, seculars to a great extent told these "Jewish mullahs" to take their dictatorial rule and shove it up their ... you know what!

The latest dictates by ultra orthodox Rabbis from various Hasidic sects is to declare all popular music treif (not kosher) and to forbid such music and dance at all facilities: hotels, restaurants, and wedding halls. The playing of this goyishe music will end with a boycott or worse for these facilities. They will essentially lose all secular business.

Sam-D-man says: time has come for the vast majority of Israelis to stand up to these Jewish ayatollahs -- TELL THEM ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! What we need is a new law, like the one that exists in the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany. This law is called "Interference in a Advantageous Business Relationship". This is a civil law which states that unless you have a legitimate civil claim like breach of contract, you can not try to cause financial harm to a business. You can't just do something because you just don't like it. Calling for boycotts, making threats of various kinds, and committing violence will subject these people to civil damages for the loss caused.

If our politicians don't have the courage to legislate against this coercion we the people can stand up and do what we can. We can avoid as much as possible all those merchants who give homage to the ultra orthodox. If a restaurant, hotel, hall facility are pandering to these people try to avoid them and find an alternative.

Stand up for your rights, if you don't, no one else will. sam-D-man / Tel Aviv

Let's take a train to Kuwait - like the good old days

Original design proposal for AL-Hamra Tower (Kuwait city)

I know I can take a train from Tel Aviv to Haifa but how about to Kuwait? In the days of the Ottoman empire and the British rule you could take a train from Ankara Turkey to Alexandria Egypt with connections to Baghdad, Amman, and Beirut. Sadly today you can't even take a plane from Tel Aviv to most Arab cities. But the reality of today's politics is not deterring Kuwait and other gulf country politicians. Kuwait plans to build a rail line connecting all it's neighbors including Israel. This is a part of a project ot improve Kuwait and bring technology and modern life to the small country.
      Dr. Sami al-Faraj president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Futuristic Studies and an adviser to the Gulf Cooperation Council is quoted as saying: "people in the gulf are smart enough to understand the impact of technology on their development and they know that the technology is in Israel". The Kuwaitis and other forward looking Arabs are essentially saying, it is time to bury the hatchet and learn to live and work together. Once the gulf countries ended their wars and the threat from Iraq ended they quickly realized that now is the time to change the life in their region. This is a welcome message to Israel and the rest of the world. (interview with Dr. al-Faraj)

Brunch - Dress Code - Shopping

1. What do Tel Avivians do on the first weekend morning?? Friday morning is go out to breakfast or brunch. The hundreds of beit cafes (coffee houses) and restaurants are packed with Tel Avivians enjoying the start of the weekend. Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Salad, up-over easy and omelets are the order of the day. Some places offer Eggs Benedict (sam-D's favorite!) We enjoy life in Tel Aviv.
   

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Morning scene at the port: waiting for brunch to begin? or is it a late arrival?


2. In Jerusalem the city's Haredi (ultra orthodox Jews) are imposing dress codes in public events. We don't have this strict control in Tel Aviv. Young girls are being forced to cover their heads and wear fundamental Islamic type dress. Next they will try to impose face cover-up Taliban style. Be careful what you wear...
   
3. The weekend is a good day to go grocery shopping in Tel Aviv. The stores are modersn, and tock bountiful supply of produce, canned goods, cheeses, snacks, frozen food, meats, and poultry. They also have many 1+1 sales (buy 1 get 1 free). These 50% discounts will save you money. Good grocery shopping in Tel Aviv -- Girls - you can wear what you like. Sexy is good.

At an edge of a boiling vat of sulfur - or just instability

An old friend asked me what is it like to live in Israel, in a political sense. So I tried to remember the last month's newspaper headlines. Every day there is a story about the "Palestinian situation". First it was the attacks from Gaza in the south and what to do about it. Than it was the exchange of prisoners. Than it was the talks through all kind of intermediaries between the Hamas and Hisbollah and Israel. Now it is about the cease fire and who controls it. You get the point, the "situation" is always present here. Politicians have gotten smart, when they don't know what to do they talk around the situation or try to focus the country's attention (or at least the media) at something else. But this woman asks: "why should you care if the Palestinians vote for one Islamic radical or the other"? Adding "In the US we don't care who is in charge in Afghanistan"! So I thought about this for a week. It really disturbed me that I couldn't give her a quick answer. I imagined her calmly sitting in front of a CNN report from Afghanistan showing one bearded soldier shooting at another with total amusement and detachment. After all, the organization and political view of people 1/2 way around the world does not matter that much!

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Taliban in Gaza, the lava is boiling and bubbling... all the time!
Than I realized, they are not 1/2 way around the world for us here in ISRAEL! Aha, I got it! BUT than again, who cares if they are 10 meters away or 10,000 miles away? Aha, you do care, very much. When you can see, hear, smell, and FEEL people, you care, and you notice, and you worry, and you get angry, and you get happy, and, and, and... So that's it! Israel is at an edge of this boiling, bubbling, steaming, cauldron of sulfur - a virtual lava flow of political, military, religious, economic, nationalistic -- and every other form of social category you can imagine. The long view is that the Arab world is modernizing. It has been doing so for about 100 years but still has some ways to go. The nationalist and religious conservative do not want to let go of power easily. This is true everywhere except for the countries that don't have a long history of religious or political power. That's why Qatar, Dubai, and to some extent Kuwait are on opposite side of the modernism spectrum than Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Yemen. The bigger countries, Egypt, Iraq, and Syria seem to be more mixed. And Turkey while certainly Islamic is moderated by close proximity to Europe and its geographic location as a hub between Europe and the Arab world.

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Trucks going - not-going - going - not-going == to Gaza

What does that mean to Israel? Well, we are in the very edge of the lava flow, the sulfur steaming volcano crater, the boiling pool of tar... that's the difference. When you are 1/2 a world away, news of the "situation" are not a big deal. But here we deal with not just the Palestinians, but the Iraqis, Iranian, Saudis, Egyptians, you name it. We deal with the rhetoric on TV, the threats and muscle flexing of every little group coming out of the Arab world. We are the "modern front" which is edging into the "pristine world" the "virgin territory" which the Arabs kept "clean" all these centuries. Well, a little exaggerated, but none the less true. The Arab conservatives see all of the modern world as a threat, but so do the Amish in Pennsylvania and the Indians in the Amazon. Even in Israel there are vestiges of very old cultures. The 'shamranim' are supposedly a group who has connections all the way back to Mosses and the Israelite tribes on this land over 2,500 years ago. But with numbers down to 700 and no real military strength they simply try to keep their culture and life as it is.
Does this help? Just like worrying about a volcano erupting and the lava that will start exploding any day, we keep our ears tuned to rumblings and our nose ready to smell the sulfur. Because that is what you do next to the volcano, a the edge of the crater!

Sex in the City - Teenage pregnancy pack in MA

A few days ago Time magazine reported a strange story. In a Gloucester Massachusetts high school 18 young girls age 14 to 17 made it their goal to get pregnant. The question is why? The answer lies in a culture that makes sex a dirty word. This school stopped their sex education program and do not provide free birth control clinics or medication. Add to that a religious community where leaders of all faiths preach high morals based on conservative values and the Bible.
Now we are seeing the tip of the iceberg of a problem religious fanatics and right wing conservatives have created. Girls are developing at younger ages and no politician pandering for votes or preacher's sermon can stop this. As girls develop their sex hormones rage out of control. This biological process is seldom controlled by religious or political views. Ignoring this combination of biology and politics makes for a deadly combination.

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Rugged and individual the famous Gloucester sailor: a "perfect storm" is brewing in Gloucester

Parents sometimes want to shield their children from the harsh reality of life. The church wants to scare the heck out of them with regard to premarital sex. Politicians want votes, specially in a conservative place in economically difficult times. Remember how president Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders for saying that masturbation should not be taboo in sex-ed? If these girls had been taught they can satisfy their sexual drive by masturbation they might not have resorted to vaginal sex. Or if oral sex was not made such a terrible act who knows what might have happened.
Until the time comes when sex is accepted as a part of life, without the religious taboos or right wing political social values, we are going to see more bizarre behavior. Young people do not know any better, they need guidance, direction, and most of all kind support. We must demand for the walls to come down on sex. Teach children about safe sex and alternatives to vaginal sex. Also, we must teach children how to avoid letting "some boy" get them pregnant.
These children have no clue on what's involved in raising and taking care of a baby. They can't imagine the total impact this child will have on their life. These children want sex and someone to love them. If parents really want their children to have a healthy and happy lives, you don't have to shield them from   A L L   the realities of life. The best remedy is just to love them and make sure you instill your best values in them. Be open to conversations about sex. Teach them that sex is good and healthy, but also teach them responsibility.
The high school these girls attend had no sex education or a clinic that provides birth control advice and medication. Now we see the terrible results. Israeli sexual attitudes are more open, we can only hope they are open enough so there will not be copycats all over the world. Sam-D-man from T"A

Mid June Yakin' in Tel Aviv...

1. Israel is a country that produces food at prices that all can afford. When those who suffer deprivation in Africa illegally cross Israel's borders we take them in. Israel provides them with world class medical services, food, shelter, and jobs. Other countries that share their culture mostly reject them. This was true with Asian refugees in the past. Israel will always take in refugees - it's in its DNA.
2. While Arabs in the Palestinian Territories try to kill us, we provide them with electricity, water, oil, and food. When there was tragedy in Burma, a country that calls for our destruction, we freely sent medical aid, food, and drinking water. Israel has rushed aid to all those in need: friend and foe.
3. Tel Aviv is a modern city which provide a vast variety of service for its people. The postal service delivers the mail and our cable TV delivers entertainment. We have a huge variety of food from around the world. It's fun to vacation in Tel Aviv.
4. Barak Obama the presumptive US democratic party nominee made a recent foreign policy statement. In response to questions about Venezuela, North Korea, and Iran, he responded that these are three small insignificant countries. Someone finally got it right. Good show Barak!
5. Jimmy Carter America's worst president has a lot of nerv to be critical of Israel. He keeps on criticizing Israel for the treatment of Palestinians without regard to the situation and the daily terrorist attacks which continue regardless of any political and government activities ON BOTH SIDES! The man who brought the Isramic revolution lead by mullahs to Iran, let 400 US hosteges rot in Iran, AND ruined the American economy - shold be hiding in some corner with his head down in shame. Any advice from you ain't worth a bag of peanuts!

in my humble opinion Sam-D-Man -- fron T"A (that Tel Aviv)

Tel Aviv Yakety Monday (June 16) by Sam-D

Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh with daughter Sara 2 y.o. (2007/Flickr/LahebAlsamt)
Ismail Haniyeh the drag queen of Hamas say that if Israeli forces enter Gaza it won't be a picnic. He has vowed he will not bring the potato salad.

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Palestinians should have the right to bomb Israel. After all they are only trying to kill Jews and the English Academic Trade Union says that it is OK!

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Wars, politicians, religious disputes come and go, but the important yakety yak in Tel Aviv's bars and cafes is Euro 2008 football championship (soccer for you Americans). Everybody talks and plays Monday morning quarterback for a few days!

Political Yakety Yaking at it's best

Nasralla in action: yackty yaking about politics and truth
Yacking away the day is not just for Tel Aviv cafe loiterers and park bench retirees. Israel political world is buzzing with yacking like never before, seems like this is the season for all sort of political yak. Negotiation to bring back kidnapped soldiers, peace agreement with Syria, new election and accusation of Olmert's corrupt American election bribery... we can go on and on. But notice that the political world is filled with news, interviews, opinion, commentary -- covering everything. On the Palestinian side the yacking heads, lead by the number 1 yacker Nasralla is probably better known AND trusted as an authority than any world personality. Sometimes Nasralla's rhetoric is taken as basic fact: we won the second Lebanon war. No mention of countless destroyed villages, hundreds of casualties - dead and maimed, and completely upturned Lebanese political system that will take decades to heal. Well, hopefully some of us can filter out political yacking from real life and real truth. No rhetoric from any government or pretentious terrorist organization changes the fact that bullets and bombs kill.

Sex and the city (not a "Sara Jessica Parker" story)

The International Herald Tribune of May 20 reported on the latest sex rage in the US. Fathers and grandfathers are taking their daughters and granddaughters to what are popularly called "Purity Balls". These events are held to indoctrinate young girls that sex is bad, dirty and that you are violating your GOD.

These girls with their father take a covenant that says "I, (daughter’s name)'s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity." (see Wikipedia - Purity Ball) Abstinence is the word. I find this approach discriminatory. No such admonitions are mad as to the men. The idea that sex should be use to control the freedom of women is nothing new. All religions use it to degrade and control.

I am happy to report that life in the Tel Aviv area has not stooped to this cheap maneuver to control the minds and bodies of our women. It is nice to see that men and women are equal when it comes to deciding your sex life.

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See also the NY Times article: Dancing the Night Away, With a Higher Purpose (May 19, 2008) -- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/19purity.html?ex=1368936000&en=c34e4ad599933e50&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink