http://Jacob.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/41014
Hezbolla, a known terrorist organisation and cabinet member of the Lebanese governement, crossed into sovereign Israeli terrority and kidnapped two soldiers, killing eight.

Israel, in response, sent a tank in pursuit of the captors into Lebanan. Afterward, Hezbolla fired literally hundreds of rockets into heavily populated Israeli cities. Hundreds of rockets continue to assult Israel every day and there have been more than 1000 fired to date, forcing close to one million Israelis to spend their entire days and nights in sweltering bomb shelters with their children.

What would you expect your government to do if hundreds of rockets were threatenting you and your nation daily? Fire hundreds back daily in "proportion" and wait until the instagators get bored?

Hezbolla deliberately targets innocent civilans trying to kill as many people as possible. Israel drops leaflets informing people of upcoming strikes, in order not to kill civilians and to give them time to leave areas which have been hotbeds of rocket fire.

Hezbolla hides amongst the Lebanese people, launching rockets next to city homes and hiding launchers under beds. As a result, Israel has the dilemma of destroying the terrorist infrastructure or allowing the continued terror and onslaught of its people in passive deference to "human rights."

Hezbolla seeks maximum death and destruction. Israel's aim is to paralyze Hizbolla's war effort; in the bombing of the Beirut airport the runways were destroyed to prevent arms shipments, but the rader contol towers were not. Similarly, Lebanese army posts have not been targeted, as the Lebanese army has not been involved.

Finally, it is difficult to reconcile human compassion with the tragedies and destruction of war, and Israel has been criticized in the media for its "disproportionate" retaliation. It is worth reminding that there have been more than 1000 rockets launched into Israeli cities and towns and that they have not killed more people or destroyed more infrastructure is only thanks to G-d. Proportionality is to be measured by action, not results. Furthermore, Israel is not fighting a tit-for-tat game against stubborn neighbors but a two-front, unprovoked war for its very survival. The Middle East is not North America or the European Union, I've learned being here. ]]> Sun, 23 Jul 2006 14:30:00 EDT http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/41014 http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/14019 the Internet for free, I'm tired of these blasted inferior
machines the public library offers. If only I hadn't spoiled
my tastes once using tig computers.

I have two things to say really, the most important one
having been on my mind since two days. In short, I've posted
a fair amount on the Middle East topics and spoke with the
authority of someone who'd read a fair deal and considered
the issue. I never should have. Somethings were wrong but
worse still was my attitude, which although probably
unnoticable over the Internet, nonetheless still deserves
comment. This most important, obvious, lesson I've learned
is to reservedly speak/write with self-granted authority,
because more often than not, even with an open and critical
mind, some fundamental pretensions might be wildly
misunderstood. I've begun reading into Edward Said's works,
and I can see why Huss (Banai, Tig) reveres him for his
intellect, character and style. Said's eloquent writing is
complimented by his deep understanding on Palestinian
affairs - or so is my impression - and his integrity is
obvious through any of his writing, and these are all
understatements. I'll, from now on, endeavour to truly
understand an issue before solidifying my opinion on it
- something I don't think I have many problems with
generally. I guess by this I wanted to reparate myself for
earlier remarks, which I now know were false and worse still
from an attitude that believed they were correct. What's
worse than that, to me, I feel, is that nobody disagreed but
instead accepted them as a premise for debate.

The other thing I wanted to say is that I saw an indie film
called Discordia the other day. It was good. (It's about the
massive protests-turned riots over a planned visit by former
Israeli PM Banjamin Netanyahou [mispelled]. The issue and
actions by university and groups involved and drew
international media attention and threatened freedom of
speech across on of Canada's most multicultural and activist
campuses. The movie personalizes and depoliticizes the
issue in a way that's rarely done. It was cool.)

Katherine if you're reading this, I sort of wish you weren't,
because, well I think a lot of this writing was stupid and
pretentious.

In other Jacob news I'm back in Toronto, for good as of a
few weeks ago and am just lazily making the most of my time
away from school. Probably going to Glendon in the fall.


]]> Sat, 07 Feb 2004 16:28:00 EST http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/14019 http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/13357 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:48:00 EST http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/13357 http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/12461
ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors kill you and take the cows.

PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbour.

REAL SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you a glass of milk.

PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.

REAL COMMUNISM: You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your neighbors bicker about who has the most "ability" and who has the most "need". Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk, and the cows drop dead of starvation.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.

DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

TOTALITARIANISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.

PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

BRITISH DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. You feed them sheeps' brains and they go mad. The government doesn't do anything.

SINGAPOREAN DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. The government fines you for keeping two un-licensed farm animals in an apartment.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows...

CAPITALISM: You don't have any cows. The bank won't lend you any money to buy cows, because you don't have any cows. You finally acquire one, then trade it for a bull.

]]> Sun, 30 Nov 2003 13:17:00 EST http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/12461 http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/9640 The site's pretty funny too.

My high score is only 952. I haven't been able to crack 1000 yet. If you do, don't tell me about it.

http://www.seethru.co.uk/zine/south_coast/helicopter_game.htm]]> Thu, 26 Jun 2003 17:07:00 EDT http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/9640 http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/8885 If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.

This is just so true.]]> Wed, 07 May 2003 16:46:00 EDT http://Jacob.tigblog.org/post/8885