A blogger in Canada lists the “Jews” who push the radical, gay agenda.  Too bad a number of these folks aren’t Jewish, most notably the very Catholic Dan Savage.

The Jews are so gay!

M and I saw The Devil Came on Horseback today at the Seattle International Film Festival.

The film showcases Brian Steidle, a U.S. Marine who was assigned to investigate the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003, to determine whether or not a genocide was occurring.  What develops is not just the horrifying events in Dafur, but the story of Brian’s eyes opening up to how corrupt political powers in the world allow atrocities like Darfur to happen and explores why it has yet to be stopped.  The viewer is left with a set of tools to help increase the visibility of this crisis in America, because the people of Sudan are depending on us to help them.

The film was incredibly powerful and moving, for many apparent reasons.  I could go on and on about the grace injustices of the film or how horrifying it is; instead, I am encouraging everyone out there to see this film when it comes to your area.  You can also go to the web site (linked above) and request a screening in your area.

I know there are a number of activists who read my posts, and this film is the perfect tool to begin discussion and push people into action.

There is no word to describe how awful the effects of corrupt governments have on people in this world.  The Arab and Muslim leaders in this world have a responsibility to help these citizens, fellow Muslims, and racism keeps them from doing anything.  China is just now beginning to change its partnerships with Sudan, but not enough to get people to stop calling next year’s Olympics the Genocide Olympics.

My hope is that enough awareness can be drummed up in the next year, so that the American athletes going to Beijing might very well be placed in a position to raise awareness about China’s connection to the atrocities in Darfur.  One can only hope people in the positions to create such visibility have the conscience to see that it is right.  I plan to write the U.S. Olympic Committee, requesting that they have http://www.savedarfur.org sewn into every, official Olympic uniforms made for the athletes.  This is a prime opportunity for the world’s focus to shift to Darfur, and its high time as well…

Of course I had to post this. As of the last developments (and I’m trying to catch a plane to the state that this video is trying to eradicate, so I won’t get too much into things), the Palestinian Authority’s information minister had said that Farfur, Mickey Mouse’s evil twin, would be removed but then he popped up again today, where according to Reuters, “During one scene, Farfur told young viewers he aspired to be like the slain spiritual leaders of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood.”
Kinda makes you long for the Little Mermaid, doesn’t it?

I missed last month’s Seattle Spelling Bee due to a dietary/religious scheduling conflict (check the calendar) but my adult spelling bee career resumed this evening with, well, less than stellar results.
My five words before my elimination were:
column (oh, come on!)
auricular
klaxon (I spelled claxson) - it’s a clarion call
alesan (I spelled alecian) - our fair judges claim it’s English (descended from French and German), but I couldn’t find it in my unabridged Webster’s. It’s a shade of brown.
marc (I spelled marque) - from the French - why wouldn’t I spell it that way? Marc is the byproduct of a grape pressing for wine. Sounds yummy!

Perhaps I’d do better if I’d get my behind and study, but the difference between spelling now and spelling as a middle schooler is that when I was in middle school there weren’t other interesting things for me to do. To my defense, though, round three, where I got eliminated, was a killer tonight, as was round two. But we were on a schedule!
By the way, speaking of spelling, Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season, will be doing a q&a with The Stranger’s Eli Sanders this Wednesday night at the Tractor. See you there!

Anyone who’s spent time in Israel or with Israelis knows they can’t agree on anything. Which is what makes what happened in Tel Aviv today so amazing: The Israeli people were of one mind. Well, most of them anyway. The one person you can count on that disagrees with the rest of his countrymen is the target of this united people: their prime minister.

The sea of people that filled Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on the night of May 3 to tell Ehud Olmert to go home represented Israel in all its diversity: Yeshiva students stood shoulder to shoulder with secular university students; hawkish settlers shared signs and stickers of protest with left-wingers.
Centrists, anarchists, reservists: On one warm spring night, at least, they spoke with one voice.
“Resign, resign” they called in a thunderous chant, their numbers some 100,000 strong.

As JTA reported today, the message sent by the people was “unequivocal.”

The NY Times reported that the crowd was anywhere from “tens of thousands” to 200,000. Out of a country of about 7 million.

The police would not put an immediate figure on the size of the crowd, but a police spokesman said that “tens of thousands” had attended. The rally organizers claimed attendance was closer to 200,000. The protesters represented a wide cross-section of Israeli society, and while the mood was not aggressive, it was insistent.

“I grew up in the lap of Zionism and I want to believe there can be change in the highest ranks,” said Ronen Amsalem, a 32-year-old man with a pony tail who works in computers in Tel Aviv, and who serves as a soldier in the reserves. “It scares me that I could be sent to war or on an operation without a goal,” he said.

Vita Wacholder, 65, came to the rally from the northern city of Haifa, which was hit by Hezbollah’s rockets during the war. “I went through the Holocaust and hell to come to heaven here,” she said. “Everyone can make a mistake,” she said of the country’s current leadership, “but not to take responsibility is wrong.”

Stay tuned. Olmert’s days are numbered.