Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Here is a documentary on the Israeli raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor.

On the 10th of Tevet of the year 3336 from Creation (425 BCE), the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. Thirty months later — on Tammuz 9, 3338 — the city walls were breached, and on Av 9th of that year, the Holy Temple was destroyed. The Jewish people were exiled to Babylonia for 70 years.

(source/more)

How come this isn’t considered “big news”, how come I can’t find this story on Drudge? How come I can’t find it on CNN.com or FoxNews.com or any major American media outlet for that matter? Is it because no one died? Is it because no one bled? It doesn’t follow the “if it bleeds it leads” mantra? Maybe if 30 Israeli children (C”V!) would have been killed in a barrage of these rocket attacks then maybe you think it would be covered in this country?

Is it not covered because the rockets which are fired at Israeli nurseries, schools and buildings are old rockets? Is it because they can only cause a certain measure of damage? Is it because it’s Jews being attacked? I’m serious, for the last 2 weeks I keep reading on Israeli sites and J-Blogs about more and more Kassam rocket attacks. I don’t hear about any “targeted assassinations” of Palestinian “militants”, I don’t hear about any Israeli Army ground incursions into Gaza. But I do hear, day after day, about more and more rocket attacks.

Trust me though, the second Israel says they will tighten security, work on the wall or go back into Gaza to round up the people launching the rockets, trust me. Then we’ll see the news reports in screaming headlines “ISRAELI GROUND TROOPS INVADE GAZA” and “ISRAELI’S ATTEMPT TARGETED KILLING OF PALESTINIAN LEADERS” trust me, those headlines will come fast and furious.

What a crock.

Gad Elbaz - Al Naharot Bavel

I’m very happy to post the following Mazel Tov.

Two great J-bloggers and all around wonderful people have become engaged!

Tamara from Tamara Eden and Tikkun Ger from TikkunGer Blog are getting married! Mazel Tov, Mazel Tov! I’m so happy for both of you and I wish you tons of happiness & success, both in the spiritual world and in the physical world.

Read the details at her place and his place. Mazel Tov again!!!

This guy has tons of stuff. Check out his Chanukah contest to win an iPod here.

More videos here.

(HT APPLE)

Shmully Tenenhaus is a Jewish Blogger from Hallandale, Florida. He blogs and he “YouTube’s” as well. Or as some would call it, Vlogs, although I’ve always hated that term it just sounds off. Anyway, Shmully has been getting a nice amount of buzz and press lately.

A couple weeks ago he was featured on ABC NEWS in a segment where people emailed, called in, or sent in video clips on “How They Would Handle Iraq”, you can see how he thinks we should handle Iraq in the video below. (Here is the ABC News link) ,(Hint for watching: It’s satire)

Most recently his Apprentice Boycott was picked up by (AOL owned) TV SQUAD blog.

“Blogger Shmuel Tennenhaus, the guy who created an unauthorized profile of American Media editorial director Bonnie Fuller to increase his chances of making it on reality television and who has made his mark on YouTube as one of its most watched talking heads, is calling for a boycott of The Apprentice: Los Angeles.”

See the video below for his actual boycott statement.

He has been mentioned in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution Newspaper for this ATT/BELLSOUTH merger rap that he made. In case your wondering, he’s in favor of it.

(HT TVSqaud)

Genius. Despite whatever personal feelings people have towards Shmuley Boteach about his style or methods, the man has an amazing way with words. MOst recently, he writes a really great article in the Jerusalem Post on why he doesn’t think Jimmy Carter is an Anti-Semite. Don’t worry, he isn’t exactly defending him so don’t think that’s a compliment in any way. Here are a couple good lines.

“I grew up in the US during the 1970s, the one decade universally acknowledged to have truly sucked. In 1970s America we danced to disco music, wore leisure suits and watched the Brady Bunch. But if that wasn’t torture enough, we had Jimmy Carter as our president.”

Jimmy Carter is not so much anti-Semite as anti-intellectual, not so much a Jew-hater as a boor. The real explanation behind his limitless hostility to Israel is a total lack of any moral understanding.

Carter wants to do what’s just. His heart’s in the right place. He just can’t figure out what the right is. He is, and always has been, a man of good intentions bereft of good judgment. He invariably finds himself defending tyrants and dictators at the expense of their oppressed peoples. Not because he is a bad man, but because he is a confused man.

CARTER SUBSCRIBES to what I call the Always Root for the Underdog school of morality. Rather than develop any real understanding of a conflict, immediately he sides with the weaker party, however wicked or immoral. ………………………….

Israel has tanks and F-16’s. The Palestinians don’t. Therefore the Palestinians are being oppressed. Never mind that the Palestinians have rejected every offer to live side by side with Israel in peace and elected a government pledged to Israel’s annihilation. Their poverty dictates the righteousness of their cause even if their actions speak otherwise. ………………………….

AS A MARITAL counselor I have met many well-meaning arbitrators who always take the side of the wife in an ugly dispute in the belief that a woman, inherently weaker than her husband, is always the innocent and aggrieved party. Even where the evidence points to the wife as being violent and unreasonable, such arbitrators cannot conceive of the husband as anything but the oppressor.

Needless to say, such arbitrators cause more harm than good, which is why Jimmy Carter would make an even worse marital counselor than he was president.

(HT CYW)

“Nothing could characterize better Hugh’s own life, nor reflect more accurately the philosophy of your movement,” the President continued. “You are committed to preserving the deep and abiding faith of the Jewish tradition for young and succeeding generations. Your devotion has won the respect and admiration of thousands in this country and around the world.”

Ford concluded: “My wish for you tonight was best said and written by President George Washington in 1790: ‘May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants… May the father of all mercy scatter light, not darkness, in our paths and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way, everlastingly happy… ‘The spirit of what he said is as alive today as it was then.”

Full story and remarks by President Ford at the Dinner here. (HT Shmais)

Before my own thoughts, here are some other bloggers who have written about this event.

Jack’s Shack, Kesher Talk, Soccer Dad, More Rhetoric, Dreams Into Lightening, Steve Silver, Political Mavens, The Town Crier, Still Wonderin, and of course like always the Wikipedia entry has a wealth of very fascinating information.

Last night President Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States passed away. I didn’t know too much about President Ford. I mean I know the basics, I knew the history, I knew what was going on at the time. I know how he became Vice-President and then later President when Nixon resigned. But I didn’t grow up with this President. I’m not that old, or at least I’d like to think I’m not and the man I grew up with as President was Ronald Reagen. To me, a political hero of mine and someone I will always remember as the greatest President of my lifetime. But for many people my age, I think today is an important day to learn and a day to go through the history pages and really get to know who Gerald Ford was.

So far this morning I have read and heard some wonderful things. One of which is that many will hopefully look back at his presidency as the first step in healing a deeply divided country over war and scandal. Even Jimmy Carter said in 1977. “For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.”

He was a war veteran and before he became Vice-President and President he served in the House of Representatives for 24 years, 8 of which was House Minority Leader. He was a father and a husband, and I think we owe it to his memory to take this day for some to remember and for some to learn about his legacy.

President Ford led in very similar times back then to where we find ourselves again today. I just hope that we don’t have to go through another Carter (Edwards/Obama) to find our next Reagan.

Oh! One more thing, just by the way, fun fact of the day? President Ford’s middle name was Rudolph, I’m just sayin’ ya know? I’d be nice to have another Rudolph in the White House.

If you haven’t heard yet about the Kindness Happens blog, then please head on over and give it a spin. It’s the happiest, most positive blog on earth. My mother tells me I’m too negative, I just wish she’d see my name on the contributors list to this blog. Ya, thats right. I can be a glass is half full kinda guy too!

Thanks to the J-Blog worlds most creative artist (~~Sarah~~) for creating this nifty button. Please add it to your sites and if you havent added it to your blogroll yet, well, go head, what are you waiting for?

If you’d like to submit a story and be a contributer please e-mail Shoshana.

Here are a few tips on how to get started via TUAW blog.

iTunes is not normally this slow: You’ve got to understand what happens on Christmas morning and throughout this week is that the iTunes store is bombarded by all you new and excited iPod owners–not to mention everyone who already had an iPod and got a gift card under the tree. Sure, go ahead and peek around the store but you might want to delay your serious iTunes shopping for a few days until things settle down and the store response time starts getting better.

You don’t have to fill up your iPod right away: Don’t let your CD collection intimidate you. There’s plenty of time to rip your CDs and put them onto your iPod and you don’t have to do it all at once. Just pick an album or two at first and let your ripped digitized music grow slowly over time. Your music won’t be fun if you see it as a burden. In the mean time, check out some of the great podcasts available on the Internet. They’re lots of fun to listen to and you don’t have to rip anything for them to work.

Switch earphones: Yes, those white earbuds are a status symbol, but you can do a lot better in terms of comfort and audio quality by switching to a better pair of headphones. Just saying…

Charge it: It shouldn’t take more than 3-5 hours to fully charge your new battery. Apple says you don’t have to let it charge for 24 hours before the first use. Right out of the box, there should be enough charge on your new friend to take it for a quick spin and check out its functions.

Use teenagers: If you have any questions about how your iPod works, track down a random teenager. They’ll know a staggering amount about how your iPod functions. They will also be happy to borrow it to “work out the kinks” for you at little or no charge.