I Knew I'd Eventually Get Tagged For The Book Meme

Recovering Ortho Jew has tagged me to do a Book Meme.

I was sort of hoping to avoid this Meme, but it was inevitable to get tagged as I've seen many blogs on my blogroll do book meme posts. I am not much of a fiction reader. And the truth is that I am a slow deliberate reader. Sure, I can "read" a book quickly, but it is a lie to say that I retained much of anything if I try this approach. And I have a sneaking suspicion that those of you who think you can read a 250-300 page book in a night, haven't really read the book. It is impossible to read a book properly at a rate of more than 10 pages per hour.

Most of the non fiction books I've read were in high school. I enjoyed reading in high school, and the focus on existentialism that my school had in their English department definitely had an impact on my transformation from someone who assumed there was a God, to me becoming Agnostic, to finally becoming Atheist.

Don't get me wrong, I read tons now. Most (all) of the books I read though are non fiction texts though. And of course I must read 30 to 40 blog posts a day and 30 to 40 newspaper/science/sports articles a day.

Now for the Meme:

A book that changed my life?:
Who Has Seen The Wind by W O Mitchell; all about life and death, I found it thought provoking at the time and it made me become introspective of my own life, and the mortality of everything from amoebas to humans.

A book I’ve read more than once:
Tough one. Does Winning At The Races by William Quirin count?

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:
Here is where I get practical. Robinson Crusoe. I figure it would give me an idea of how to cope. I'd also consider a book on how to make a boat.

A book that made me laugh:
Horton Hears A Who by Theodor Geisel.

A book that made me cry:
I don't know about crying. I admit I've come close though, especially while watching some feel good movies. I think there were parts of Johnny Tremain that made me come close, but I was pretty young back then.

A book that I wish had been written:
The Harry Potter series. I haven't read them, but it made the author filthy rich.

A book I wish had never been written:
The Koran, or Qu'ran, or whatever you call it. Too many people have some ugly interpretations when it comes to what it says.

I'm currently reading:
Outside of Now You Know, by Doug Lennox(the red version and the blue version), books about trivial facts, I am not reading any book right now. Especially non fiction.

A book I've been meaning to read:
The End of Faith by Sam Harris. I came close to buying the Jesus Mysteries, but I found out enough on the internet to satisfy my curiosity.

What turned me onto fiction?
Other than being forced to read fiction in school, absolutely nothing.

Now it is time to tag 5 bloggers. I will focus on tagging females. One, their gender seems to like reading fiction, and secondly, they seem to like to talk about themselves, generally speaking of course:)

Atheist Girl, Begin Each Day As If It Were On Purpose, Lemons and Lollipops, Memoirs Of A Gouda, and Beep Beep It's Me.

Actually this group of chicks I'm tagging has a lot of smarts, so I expect their responses to be quite impressive.

Hezbollah Used UN Bunkers

It must of been a UN bunkers. The UN wouldn't just watch bunkers being built by terrorists and not report it.................would they?

I just can't figure out why the UN would build bunkers so close to UN buildings. Someone could have mistaken them to be bunkers that are being used to hide terrorists, and this would put the UN buildings in danger of getting blown up.

Thanks to Jaakobou, who has been emailing me some very informative clips lately. Check out his videos and favorites here.

DING DING DING: HAMAD ACTUALLY BEGINS TO GET IT

Ghazi Hamad, is a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority government and a former newspaper editor. He is also a Palestinian who is actually telling the truth.

Mr. Hamad wrote an introspective piece that was published Sunday on some Palestinian news Web sites.

I don't know who hates him more for it though, Arab Muslims or Moonbats. Arab Muslims for stating the obvious that they have been trying to dance around for 58 years, or Moonbats for being conned by the Arab dancing and actually putting blame where blame deserves.

OK, here is much of what he said:

"When you walk in the streets of Gaza City, you cannot but close your eyes because of what you see there: unimaginable chaos, careless policemen, young men carrying guns and strutting with pride and families receiving condolences for their dead in the middle of the street."
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OK, so far, he is just observing stuff. Right now, his fellow Arab Muslims are thinking "of course this happening, damn Israel, damn Zionists, damn USA." Moonbats are thinking "This wouldn't be happening if Israel didn't exist. Poor Palestinians, look what the Jews make them do."


"Gaza is suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs," Hamad wrote. "I remember the day when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and closed the gates behind. Then, Palestinians across the political spectrum took to the streets to celebrate what many of us regarded as the Israeli defeat or retreat. We heard a lot about a promising future in the Gaza Strip and about turning the area into a trade and industrial zone."
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OK Mr. Hamad, you started by observing reality, but don't tell me you fell for what the Palestinians talk about growing a nation. You should have read my blog post from just over a year ago.

Hamad said the "culture of life" that prevailed in the Strip has since been replaced with a nightmare. "Life became a nightmare and an intolerable burden," he said. "Today I ask myself a daring and frightening question: 'Why did the occupation return to Gaza?' The normal reply: 'The occupation is the reason.'"

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So Hamad is saying that since the Jews left, the culture of life has left. Now all there is a culture of death. I coulda told him that. The idea of an "occupation" is just one very large Red Herring, the problem is the culture which is one of hate.

Dismissing Israel's responsibility for the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, Hamad said it was time for the Palestinians to embark on a soul-searching process to see where they erred.

"We're always afraid to talk about our mistakes," he added. "We're used to blaming our mistakes on others. What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories - one that has limited our capability to think."
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Are you embarrassed yet Moonbats? Do you feel really stupid yet? Or are you too stupid to understand that Hamad just called you a bunch of dupes?

Hamad admitted that the Palestinians have failed in developing the Gaza Strip following the Israeli withdrawal and in imposing law and order. He said about 500 Palestinians have been killed and 3,000 wounded since the Israeli pullout, in addition to the destruction of much of the infrastructure in the area.

By comparison, he said, only three or four Israelis have been killed by the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the same period.

"Some will argue that it's not a matter of profit or loss, but that this has an accumulating effect" he said. "This may be true. But isn't there a possibility of decreasing the number of casualties and increasing our gains by using our brains and making the proper calculations away from demagogic statements?"
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Asking Palestinians to collectively think might be harder than turning a crocodile into a vegetarian. Palestinians collectively are driven by emotion..........hate. As long as they whine victimhood, they are doomed.

The Hamas official said that while his government was unable to change the situation, the opposition was sitting on the side and watching and PA President Mahmoud Abbas was as weak as ever.

"We have all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity," he remarked. "We have lost our sense of direction and we don't know where we're headed."
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OK, I go along with the bacteria of stupidity. But I think that attack occurred around 1400 years ago. I think he is escaping reality by doing a bit of that Arab pride thingy when he says that the Palestinians have LOST their sense of direction.
I don't think they ever had it, and they never showed that they have thought more than one move ahead. Are my Moonbat readers upset by Hamad calling Palestians stupid collectively? They sure get mad at me when I say it.

Addressing the various armed groups in the Gaza Strip, Hamad concluded: "Please have mercy on Gaza. Have mercy on us from your demagogy, chaos, guns, thugs, infighting. Let Gaza breathe a bit. Let it live."
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Nice words, but he should have said it in sign language. If Palestinians were capable of self criticism collectively, there would be a real shot at peace.

Thanks to Jordan who brought this to my attention in the comments on Atheist Girl's wonderful blog.

See also the Quada Blog, Common Sense America, and Captain Quarters for more.

This Is Pretty Cool: A Celebrity Look Alike Program

Hat Tip to Allie from Memoirs of a Gouda.

I tried this with different pictures and got different results each time. I didn't include the women that I apparently look like according to the program. Apparently I share many features with Goldie Hawn and Billie Jean King. I'm not offended by this either, but nobody has ever called me Goldie.

I always thought I looked like Billy Joel and even Bruce Willis, and sometimes Chevy Chase (around 10-15 years ago). I also knew that I resemble Kelsey Grammer lately.

When I was in grade 6 I was the spitting image of the first Partridge Family drummer Chris, Jeremy Gelbwaks. I remember one incident when I was in the AV room (I forgot what AV stood for, but I know it had something to do with the projector) with two girls. They sort of cornered me and were trying to get me to admit that I was really Chris. I escaped without getting the "cooties," and those girls forgot I was alive after that:(

Here is the first Chris on the Partridge Family:


Below is me from my grade 6 class picture (the year I was cornered):


Johnny Cash introduces the Partridge Family:

What I Find Most Disturbing About This Video...

......are the comments by some Muslims on Youtube:

Tareeqa (1 month ago)
'authobillah

I can't believe that a Muslim would turn in his own brothers. An act of kufr. He should take his shahada again, repent, and ask for forgiveness from the brothers & their families.

buz42 (1 month ago)
...funnyly according islam...his action was wrong....his action is apostacy....his action isn't justyfyed with any of the quranic verse or the saying of the prophet...he chose man made state over what allah wants to establish. sad


mejowski (1 month ago)
The consensus (Ijma') of the Islamic scholars, based on Quran and Sunnah, is against harming civilians. Anyone that deviates from the consensus of the scholars is not from mainstream Islam. Preventing terrorism is a great thing.


QuietRain (1 month ago)
Are you crazy? Spying is completely harram, and so is turning in muslims.. not to mention that he slandered them on TV calling them fruitcakes.. O you who believe! avoid most of suspicion, for surely suspicion in some cases is a sin, and do not spy nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, surely Allah is Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful. (al Hujraat:12)

NOT ONLY THAT, but he was encouraging their actions instead of actually correcting them if he really thought they were wrong. What kind of friend leads people further in their wrong actions and then turns them in.. what a hypocrite


Mubin Shaikh is a courageous hero, and if Muslims took his stance, there would be no problems with Muslims. The bad ones would be weeded out. However, it seems that most Muslims are completely silent, or even worse, terror apologists and obviously at least some, probably more, see something fundamentally wrong and even sinful with narcing on Muslims, no matter what terrorist act is planned or carried out.


Side note: I joined another blog roll yesterday. REJECT THE UN

How could I not join it? The UN might is nothing but CAIR's head office these days.