Missing Links: A Stone that Causes Men to Stumble

Jimi Hendrix
Stepping Stone / Earth Blues

The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,

and he will be a sanctuary;
but for both houses of Israel he will be
a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured."

~ Isaiah 8:13-15



Gaza dominates Gulf leaders summit

OIC ministers to meet on Gaza crisis Saturday

OIC ignores Hamas rockets, condemns Israel for self defence


Senate committee demands OIC to discuss Israeli aggression


US, UN, EU, Russia urge immediate Gaza cease-fire
Naturally.

Is Gaza Bombing "Too Much?" Bush Won't Say...

Whores of Churchianity appeal for cease fire in Gaza
Jewsus sees you.

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Obama's Hawaii house
I am sure they will be very comfortable there.

Abdullah, Erdogan to discuss Gaza situation
I'm sure.

Japan PM Aso tells Israel to stop bombings
Oh yea? Japan too? Yawn. STFU & STFD, ya staggering ASO.

The NAM, OIC, and the Arab Group in Geneva

OIC demands UN Security Council seat for Muslims over Gaza

Dallas Morning News: Israel justified in striking Hamas
GOD BLESS TEXAS

Iran sets up court to try Israelis over Gaza

Hamas Legalizes Crucifixion

Volunteer suicide bombers seek to attack Israel

Nigeria: Christian Pilgrims Assured of Safety in Israel

Turkey embarks on diplomatic mission to achieve joint OIC policy

John Bolton Gauges Global Impact of Gaza Crisis

Iran's duty to be by the side of Iraq
I say combine them into one country, rename it IRATE, and bomb the living shit out of it, STAT

Iraqi premier visits Iran to discuss US-Iraq pact

The struggle to reduce dependence on Gazprom

Gazprom & Co

Paying the piper: Gazprom stokes Europe's concerns

Gazprom awards contract to Rolls-Royce

Russia extends presidential terms to six years

New Russian law ends jury trials for 'crimes against state'

Russia's Gazprom cuts all gas supplies to Ukraine

Russia accuses Ukraine of siphoning gas to Balkans

Russia: Ukraine Accused of Seizing Fuel

Romania sees fall in Russian gas supplies

Aliyev to Visit Turkmenistan
As I have been saying for a while here, keep your eyes on Turkmenistan - already there is a subterranean "cold war" for their resources going on which could morph into a physical battle.


US, NATO seek better routes in Asia
Watch for Turkmenistan

Russia looks to re-route EU gas

Gazprom agrees with Turkmenistan

Iran, Turkmenistan reach gas price deal

Turkmenistan: National currency denomination changes

New Evidence of a Soviet Spy in the US Nuclear Program

Japanese, South African nominated to head IAEA

Texaco Toxic Past Haunts Chevron as $27 Billion Judgment Looms
Say it ten times, fast.

Goldman Sachs exec sells condo for $8.5M in West Village

Goldman Sachs: "Healthcare CEOs Unscripted"
OK. Now... you tell ME why Gold Man Sacks is the host of this MFing ho-down...

Fed taps top money managers

And WTF is the real meaning of this shit here?

Private-equity investors led by Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, agreed to buy IndyMac Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and inject $1.3 billion in cash, a rare purchase of a failed financial institution by non-bank buyers.

The sale to a group of firms run by ex-Goldman bankers as well as hedge-fund managers John Paulson and George Soros was the least costly option, the FDIC said in a statement yesterday. The FDIC agreed to share losses with the group on a pool of IndyMac loans.

Corzine seeks additional budget cuts
....Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive....

Scientists watch unusual Yellowstone quake swarm
All Science can do is watch.
Ferality can pray, intervene.

Yellowstone National Park Hit by Hundreds of Small Earthquakes
Hundreds.

Earthquake Swarm at Yellowstone Supervolcano: Update

Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm: Update II

Russian Scientist: Eruption of Koryak Volcano Might be Dangerous
Ya think?

Photos of the activity at Koryak

4.5 in Central Alaska

4.5 in Bolivia

4.7 in Mindanao

4.9 in Taiwan

5.0 in China's Sichuan

5.1 & 5.9 in Indonesia

5.9 in Afghanistan

Major year for natural disaster

Sex Pistols
Stepping Stone

WFRL: Auld Lang Syne

Gary Hoey
Auld Lang Syne

Should all the Quakers be forgot and never have anxiety ~

Guy Lombardo & The Royal Canadians
Auld Lang Syne

Many moons go I knew someone who thought the lyric was should all the Quakers be forgot and never have anxiety.... I still sing it like that every year.

I miss Guy Lombardo's New Years Eve. It was corny and everyone made fun of me, but I loved it. God Bless the Royal Canadians.

Happy New Year.

Israel: Do It Right Or Don't Do It At All

U2 ~ New Years Day

I'm running the party ~ so you won't see me till Thursday probably. By Friday things should return to abnormal around here. Till then I'll throw WFRL's out as needed to accommodate comments. In the meantime, pray for Israel, pray for us, pray for the destruction of our enemies and for the redemption of the righteous.
Am Yisrael Chai !

Psalm 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.

2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.

3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.

4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal, ^[a] Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah

9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."

13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.

14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.

17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Israel: Do It Right Or Don't Do It At All
by Gerald A. Honigman

Figures...the one day I don't read the paper or check my computer for news first thing in the morning...

Ugh!

Turns out the Jews finally overdosed and moved on Gaza while I was in the very midst of writing this article. So now, after having to plead my case with publishers I already drive crazy, please check it out anyway. Let's see how good the Israelis do. And hopefully, I'll be proven wrong...on at last some counts.

One of the so-called "Arab World's" greatest scholars, Ibn Khaldun, singled out the Jews centuries ago when he wrote The Muqaddimah.

Writing of the rise and fall of civilizations, he stressed the overwhelming importance of 'asabiyah--unique group consciousness--to the overall fate of any nation.

While Ibn Khaldun noted that the Jews had one of the most "noble houses" in history, he explained that, as a result of losing their 'asabiyah, they had subsequently suffered constant humiliations as a result.

The Muqaddimah stressed that the Jews were forced to wander in the desert for forty years due to their "meekness." Ibn Khaldun held that this was necessary so that a new generation would arise with a new, more powerful 'asabiyah.

Prime Minister Olmert and his crew should pay close attention to this...Jews can't afford yet another of such wanderings.

After putting up with countless mortar and rocket terror launched from Gaza since it unitaterally withdrew from there years ago, it looks like Israel, under Olmert and Livni, has gotten a green light from Washington to do what should have been done long ago. Unfortunately, these are not the leaders to do it right.

Too many of Olmert's crew have much in common with the "post-Zionism" plaguing too much of Israel today.

Too many of Israel's teachers, especially at the higher levels, lack that 'asabiyah Ibn Khaldun stressed and have spread the disease to their students as well.

Israel's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon was a result of such new leaders. An Israel under Menachem Begin, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, or Arik Sharon would not have fought Hizbullah largely by the Arabs' own game plan. Olmert's crew did--with disastrous results.

And now this same crew is telegraphing it's punch to do a virtual Lebanon II in Gaza.

More young Israelis will be sent on the ground into deadly booby traps set for human and tank alike.

Arabs like to joke about how Jews value life...

We'll, for starters, they don't believe that they'll have seventy-two virgins awaiting them in Heaven as a reward for blowing up Arab babes and other innocents the way Arabs see this picture for themselves. So, the Arabs are correct--for this many other reasons as well.

But, following up on this observation, Israel thus needs to play a very different game in Gaza.

Hamas and the Gazan Arabs who elected it to office know that Israel can't lay low forever. It has deliberately been trying to bait Israel into fighting at this time. But I suspect that Hamas expects Israel to follow a game plan approved by Washington--especially the State Department--which will not allow it to do what really needs to be done here...actually win.

Israel will be allowed to punish Foggy Bottom's bad cop terrorists for the sake of the alleged latter-day Arafatian good cop ones of its darling, Mahmud Abbas. In reality, both have the same long-term goal for the Jewish State. But there's billions of dollars at stake for the winners. Recall Arafat's legendary Swiss bank accounts and so forth.

Israel must indeed answer terror, but at minimum cost to itself. Every soldier Israel loses is like America losing abot sixty.

No matter how "good" it tries to be here, it will be condemned anyway...So, do it as best as possible.

Those who deliberately set up terror shops amidst their own civilian human shields will be responsible for the deaths of innocents (and keep in mind that those "innocents" gladly elected the leaders they now have). The Geneva Conventions condemn such cowardice and further state that it will not prevent retribution. See the Perfidy Clause and so forth.

So, here's the real plan...

Bombers, not helicopters, will take the lead here.

Israel has already telegraphed its punch loudly and clearly in the aftermath of all Gaza singing Hamas's praises for hundreds of mortars and rockets fired at Israel in just the past few weeks. Newspaper articles all over the world have reported of Israel's upcoming invasion.

Massive, quick retaliation, following America's own Powell Doctrine for war, must be the guideline. If having death and destruction fired non-stop at your towns by folks who don't recognize your very right to exist is not war, then what is?

Bombers will need to seek out major groupings of armed fighters. So, the time for the strike should be set for when Hamas is having another of its major rallies or parades. Hopefully, Israeli intelligence can redeem itself here a bit. Hundreds must be sent to Paradise at one time--enough so that there will be a shortage of virgins.

Qassam rockets and such must be answered by artillery. Forget the tit-for-tat manure that Arabs only laugh at... Massive barrages must target sites from which terror is launched. Prospective mine fields and booby traps must be blasted as well.

Any suspected hideouts of Hamas leadership must be taken out. Israel had opportunities in earlier decades to do this and refused because of the human shield thing. Not this time...

Hide with them, die with them. President Bush almost said those exact words himself.

Many underground bunkers as well as tunnels have likely been constructed by Arabs in preparation for Gaza's virtual Lebanon II. This is a good time to test those bunker-busters, assuming Israel has gotten some decent intelligence here before it uses those expensive bombs.

Israeli teens and others should not be sent in on the ground until everything has been done to reduce their casualties. To Hell with those "innocents" who'd slit Jews's throats in an instant given the chance.

It's time for Israel to fight to win...like any other country would. So...

I don't recommend hitting Gaza now.

Conventional wisdom states that Israel should attack before President Obama takes office along with his list of anti-Israel advisers.

While this is a consideration, it is trumped by the make-up of Israel's current leaders and the wisdom of Ibn Khaldun.

Israel has waited this long to strike. It must wait a bit longer...until new elections produce leaders for whom the Jews's Zionist 'asabiyah is once more calling both the political and military shots.

At that time, it will be able to fight to win, not merely play the game that others have in store for it.

ADDITIONAL GAZA ARTICLES & PHOTOS

Monday Morning Cartoon

Pluto's Christmas Tree
1952