From RedPlanetCartoons.

That's all the stomach I have to post about health care for the moment. If I see Nancy Pelosi's Stepford rictus grin one more time I'm going to jump through the TV and box her behind the ears with a staple remover.

[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]

While the Obama Administration is fiddling over the construction of apartments in Jerusalem, the Middle East is burning. Yet these other issues don't attract the attention -- and certainly not the action -- required.

1. Iran is now allied with al-Qaida: General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, revealed a bombshell story that has been ignored: Iran is helping al-Qaida attack Americans.

Iran, he said in military-speak, provides "a key facilitation hub, where facilitators connect al Qaida's senior leadership to regional affiliates." Translation: Tehran is letting al-Qaida leaders travel freely back and forth to Pakistan and Afghanistan, using its territory as a safe haven, while permitting them to hold meetings to plan terrorist attacks for attacking U.S. targets and killing Americans. While nominally Iran sometimes takes these people into custody, that seems, Petraeus says, a fiction to fool foreigners.

Oh, and Petraeus added that Iran also helps the Taliban fight America in Afghanistan. Regarding Iraq, the general explains, "The Qods Force [an elite Iranian military group within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] also maintains its lethal support to Shia Iraqi militia groups, providing them with weapons, funding and training,"

So, Petraeus pointed out that Iran is helping al-Qaida against the United States and also, at times, Shia groups intended to be Iran's proxies for spreading its influence in Iraq. In effect, the Tehran regime is at war with the United States. Yet this point is not being highlighted, nor does it stir rage in the hearts of White House officials or strenuous attempts to counter this threat.

Meanwhile, Iran isn't just building apartments but nuclear weapons' facilities.

2. Lebanon being further integrated into Iran-Syria alliance

In an interview with al-Jazira television, Walid Jumblatt, formerly the roaring lion of the opposition, turns into a mouse and apologizes to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Asad:

[The following, by Ben Cohen, is crossposted from Z Word.]

Now this is where tragedy turns to farce. Sari Hanafi is an academic at the American University of Beirut. He recently visited the UK to participate in "Israel Apartheid Week," which gave him a platform to promote the recent book he co-authored on the "anatomy of Israeli rule in the occupied Palestinian territories." Halfway through his visit, Hanafi was forced to return to Beirut in order to face a furious gathering of AUB faculty and students who denounced him for collaborating with Israel. The basis for this charge? The co-authors of Hanafi's book were two Israelis, Michael Givon and Adi Ophir. Because of this heinous act of betrayal, an Arab academic whose book is energetically promoted at a global event which marks the highlight of the boycott movement's calendar finds himself condemned for breaking the very same boycott through the very same book.

More on this here and here. Most instructive is this statement put out by Hanafi's supporters - "We strongly sense that a normative and literal application of the rules may sometimes produce paradoxical outcomes" - which is another way of saying that the boycott can make you look extremely silly indeed.

But don't take my word for it. Here are the Pythons:

How could I have let pass uncommented-upon the passing of Fess Parker on Thursday. The man played both Daniel Boone AND Davy Crocket. Beat that. And those theme songs!

Steve Reeves, bitches.

Via, and more, at DoubleTapper.

"Why yes, we are f*cking Nazis. Why do you ask?"

Palestinians hold a sign depicting a swastika during clashes at Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah March 19, 2010. Stone-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces in several locations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank amid tensions over Israel's recently announced plan to build houses in East Jerusalem.

Just another image of the Obama Intifada.

Congratulations to our friend Pedro Zuquete, co-author (with Charles Lindholm) of the new book The Struggle for the World: Liberation Movements for the 21st Century:

Update: There is a Facebook fan page for the book, here.

I mean, now that he's no longer with Human Rights Watch he'll need a new job...maybe as an expert on some sort of Extreme version of Antiques Road Show. I wonder if he digs chicks with forehead tats? (That goes a bit far for me.)

[For those not keeping up with their celebrity gossip, this is the woman Jesse James cheated on Sandra Bullock with.]

The Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions crew built a "wall" out in Amherst, MA. Judging by the results, one could be lulled into a false sense of security concerning the dangers of the BDS "movement." Rather pathetic: Take Down This (Extremely Silly) Wall (please!)

Erecting eye-sores and annoying people is no way to start a revolution, kids.

[The following, by Barry Rubin, is crossposted from The Rubin Report.]

The United States is at war with al-Qaida. Al-Qaida carried out the attack on the World Trade Center that killed 3,000 Americans. Al-Qaida is killing Americans in Iraq and elsewhere. So one would think the fact that al-Qaida has found a powerful ally would be a big story in the American media and by a big priority for setting off U.S. government anger.

And this would be especially so if that was explained by one of the most respected men in the country, a man who has access to the highest-level intelligence.

Not at all.

In the same testimony which created lots of discussion regarding remarks on the Israel-Palestinian issue, General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, revealed a bombshell story that has been ignored: Iran is helping al-Qaida attack Americans.

[The Huffington Post is the major competitor of "Comment if Free" in the blogosphere. Interestingly the Huffington Post seems to be afflicted with the same malaise of its sister blog across the Atlantic. This is a guest post by Zach of TheBrothersofJudea, a blog that tracks antisemitism at the Huffington Post. This is crossposted from CiF Watch.]

The internet newspaper the Huffington Post has long had the reputation of a breeding ground for anti-Semitic attitudes. Though I have only been "watching" it for a few months now, I have already seen a lifetime's worth of anti-Semitic hatred and anti-Israel slander on the talkback threads. Although the multiple bloggers who write for the Huffington Post are almost all critical of Israel, few have crossed the line into unvarnished anti-Semitism. That is, until December of last year.

Michael Carmichael is a Huffington Post blogger, who according to his bio is a "senior political consultant, historian, author and broadcaster" based in Oxford, England. He normally writes about such topics as American politics, business, Karl Rove, and Avatar. Which only made his column on December 16, 2009 even more shocking.

Carmichael wrote a story about healthcare reform with the inflammatory title, "Kill the Bill." To those who follow the healthcare reform debate, Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn) is not in favor of healthcare reform as it currently stands. He doesn't want a public option and said that he will help to filibuster any bill that included it. This has led to one of the most prominent Jewish senators losing even more popularity from the Democrats, and from the American people in general. All this is background, though, because Carmichael's article isn't really about healthcare reform, it's about Israel, and how Israel controls America.

Carmichael takes two parts of Joe Lieberman's political views (namely, that is he is an advocate of Israel and is against the current healthcare bill) and combines them. He concludes that because Joe Lieberman is an Israel advocate he must be acting in Israel's interests. Carmichael's only evidence for this classic accusation of Jewish dual-loyalty is that Prime Minister Netanyahu "threatened" to "undermine Obama's presidency." But even this supposed "evidence" is questionable - the Ha'aretz story used by Carmichael said only that, "Senior officials in the Obama administration also accused Netanyahu of suggesting that he had the power to pressure Obama with various lobbies within the U.S. political arena." The word "threatened" was not used, nor was Obama's presidency ever discussed.

Things only became more interesting from there. When Carmichael wrote the article, and in the original Huffington Post publication, the article contained the following sentence:

Accusing Jews of being more loyal to Israel or to Jews worldwide than their own countries is a staple of anti-Semitic literature, and can be lifted right out of the definition. It even stretches back to the Dreyfus Trial. This sentence by itself shows that this article's key point is one of blatant anti-Semitism, even ignoring the other attacks on Israel contained within the article.

Carmichael concludes with a call for America to remove all ties with Israel based on his manufactured conspiracy theory:

The story doesn't end there, however. The Huffington Post reacted to this story in a number of ways. While the article was in the spotlight, so to speak, the moderation on it was increased twentyfold. Comments like, "This article is anti-Semitic," or "Easier just to blame the Jews, eh Mr. Carmichael?" were not cleared by the moderators to be posted, though they did not violate any terms of use. If you look at the article now, you will see that there are only four comments. No comments pointing out the blatantly anti-Semitic nature of the content remained for very long, if they ever were able to make it through moderation in the first place.

The Huffington Post staff followed this by attempting to restrict access to the article. Carmichael's page and article archive does not include "Kill the Bill," nor does the Huffington Post's "World" page. It can still be found with a Google search, however. Some might consider this to be a positive sign; the Huffington Post staff realized that the article was anti-Semitic and tried to limit its exposure. But if that's the case, why didn't they just simply delete it? The actions of the Huffington Post staff might be an attempt to remove a clearly inflammatory article from their readership, but it might also simply be a coverup.

This would seem to be confirmed by the fact that, if you look at the article as it currently reads, you might notice a subtle difference. The sentence quoted above about Lieberman as Netanyahu's "agent," the "icing on the cake" of the anti-Semitism in the article, is no longer there. Compare it with a reprint of the article in the "Center for Global Research," and you will see that Carmichael's words were changed from what they were. Probably by the Huffington Post's editors. And yes, when the article was originally posted it was included in full.

To conclude, here we have the best (though not the only) example of anti-Semitism on the Huffington Post so far. The Huffington Post staff reacted to this in a half-hearted attempt to cover it up, including changing the author's words, though they fell short of taking the final step and removing the article itself. Michael Carmichael is still on the Huffington Post blogroll, though he has not published an article since January. The Huffington Post has often come under fire for a encouraging and even endorsing anti-Semitic attitudes, and this story is unlikely to help them shake this image.

Including bunker busters? There's some "explosive" stuff in this article at World Tribune, if true. BUT, it feels like I've heard this sort of thing before, and it's the type of thing that gets exaggerated easily. Is this really the sort of thing that can be kept quiet from all but the formidable World Tribune? Hmmm...Obama blocks delivery of bunker-busters to Israel

U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Recruit Chanda Axton fires a salute battery during a live-fire exercise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) while under way in the Pacific Ocean March 12, 2010. Nimitz and embarked Carrier Air Wing 11 are en route to the United States after an eight-month deployment to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Philip Wagner Jr., U.S. Navy/Released)

Indoctrinate the kids and then get 'em out and fight...and note the threat to the kids themselves...stay in line, or else.

MEMRITV: Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV Children's Puppet Show: 'We Must Rise Against the Zionist Criminals, the Enemies of Allah, and Liberate Jerusalem and All the Holy Places' (Link to transcript.)

The video is here.

It's David T., over at Harry's Place: Now I'm Being Sued By George Galloway!

Read the whole thing, but apparently Galloway is actually claiming to have been defamed due to his having been associated with Hamas through a comment David T. left at another blog. Get it? Galloway, who does, in fact, associate with Hamas, is claiming damages because someone pointed it out.

I believe in American court such a claim would be absurd, but in this case it's Britain, so who knows. As David T., I smell shades of Lipstadt/Irving should it go on.